Pleasant, Cain and a Whole Lot Of Other Stuff
by TheSquirrelLordess
Summary: The adventures of my fav skeleton-and-girl duo. Will most likely include funny bits, sad bits and made up words (I'm not great at spelling). Give it a go it's not like you'll explode if you don't like it (probably). Thanks for taking a look and if you post any hate comments I'll be upset. So.. um.. please don't :)
1. Chapter 1

It was the 31st October and somewhere in Haggard, a certain Skeleton and a certain dark haired girl were arguing. Again.

"Halloween's for little children!"

"It's the only day when you don't have to where the façade and you're being grumpy about it?"

"I just can't believe Tanith's having a Halloween party. And you have to dress up!"

"You can just go as a skeleton. _I'm_ the one who has to dress up"

"What are you dressing up as, anyway?"

"You'll have to wait and see" Valkyrie smirked as she got out of the Bentley and ran up the steps to Gordon's.

"See you at eight" Skulduggery grumbled and drove off. Valkyrie was busy texting Tanith who had had the remnant removed via the coach-o-bowers. The remnant had died when her body did.

'-See you soon x-' Valkyrie finished texting and shut her bedroom door. Time to get ready.

At eight O'clock Skulduggery knocked on Gordon's front door. Technically it was Valkyrie's house now but it would always be Gordon's house to them. The door opened and Skulduggery gaped at the woman before him. Valkyrie was dressed as a soldier. She wore a helmet that was slightly too big and came down over one eye and an unbuttoned shirt with a crop top underneath. She had tiny shorts on and short boots. To finish it off, Valkyrie had smeared some face paint in two small lines on each cheek.

"Let's go!" Valkyrie said, rushing past him into the Bentley. "Nice costume by the way" she called. Skulduggery was simply wearing him normal suit and hat with a tie that had bats on it. He shook his head and drove them to Tanith's. The party had already started and a few people stared as Valkyrie swaggered in and said hi to Tanith who was with Ghastly. Ghastly was wearing a black suit and his scars gave him the perfect Halloween outfit. Tanith was dressed as a pirate with an eye patch and a dress than was jagged at the bottom.

"You look amazing!" Tanith squealed as she hugged Valkyrie.

"So do you"

The girls started chatting and Ghastly turned to Skulduggery.

"Doesn't Val get cold wearing that outfit?" he sniggered. Skulduggery glared at him.

"I'm buying her an outfit next year"

"Good idea" Ghastly laughed as a boy with straight red hair and a side fringe tapped Valkyrie on the shoulder. She disappeared into the crowd with him and Skulduggery had to resist following after them. As if reading his mind, Ghastly put a hand on his shoulder.

"She knows how to look after herself"

"She most definitely does"

After a few hours of pretending to be enjoying himself, Skulduggery was definitely bored. He spotted Valkyrie sat with a group of teenagers around her, laughing at whatever it was she just said. He wandered over and they looked at him warily.

"Who's that?" the red haired boy from earlier asked.

"My older brother" Valkyrie replied, sticking her tongue out at Skulduggery. He nodded and glared at the nearest person.

"Just ignore him. He's always this grumpy" she laughed before continuing her story.

"You want to go trick or treating?" one of them asked.

"Isn't that kind of babyish?"

"It is until we stop off at the club down the road. Valkyrie nodded and stood up.

"Lead the way" she giggled and waved goodbye to Skulduggery. "I'll be back tomorrow at the latest"

Ghastly chuckled as he watched Skulduggery storm off.

"Next year I'm making her go as a nun" he mumbled as he pushed through the crowd. Ravel was alone and his eyes darted around, looking for some excuse to escape.

"Ravel! Having as much fun as I am I see. Where did Dexter go? He was with you a minute ago" Skulduggery said.

"He was with Valkyrie" Ravel said, shaking his head "I told him she was too young for him but he wouldn't listen"

"Let's see if he'll listen to _me_" Skulduggery whispered to himself. Ravel and Skulduggery made pointless conversation until about one in the morning when a slightly tipsy Valkyrie staggered in. Her hair was messed up and the boys with her were equally drunk.

"_Skulduggery_!" she squealed and threw her arms around him. Skulduggery staggered back as one of the boys spilt his drink over Taniths sound system. The music crackled to a stop.

"Damn it!" Tanith cried and pulled out an old karaoke machine. After a few songs, they were running out of volunteers to sing.

"My turn!" Valkyrie yelled and grabbed a microphone. Skulduggery shook his head and a few people sniggered. They were all expecting her to be terrible in her drunken state. The music started and 'Waking Up In Vegas' by Katy Perry blared out. Valkyrie started to sing and Ravel dropped his drink. She sounded amazing. She sang loudly and shook her hips and flicked her hair to the music, dancing like a professional. Fletcher pulled out his phone and started filming to show Valkyrie once she was sober. Valkyrie carried on, unfazed. The song ended and Valkyrie fell off the stage to massive applause Skulduggery caught her and carried her off in a fireman's lift. She punched him weakly but fell asleep before they'd even got to the Bentley. He drove her home and lifted her into bed; shutting the curtains and making a mental note not to go anywhere near her until at least late afternoon. He took off her helmet and put it to one side.

"Night Val" he mumbled as he left through the window.

The next morning, Valkyrie woke up and groaned. A hangover probably meant that she'd done something dumb the night before. Valkyrie remembered the last time she got drunk which involved her waking up upside down hanging from a tree by the beach. A few hours later, Skulduggery tapped on the door.

"Yeah?" Valkyrie was in no mood to be polite. Skulduggery opened the door and wandered in.

"Feeling a bit better?"

"No. Did I do anything really crazy?"

"You sang"

"On damn"

"It wasn't _that_ bad. Fletcher took a video. I think you should see it"

"Show me" And Valkyrie sat next to Skulduggery watching herself jump around to the music.

"Please tell me Fletcher didn't show anyone else this video"

"Only the people that were there saw it. I grabbed this from Fletcher at the first opportunity."

"Thank the lord"

"I don't suppose you're ready for work. There's a new case. A kid about your age has been murdering anyone who annoys him. We don't know what magic he can do but it must be pretty impressive because the last bunch of agents we sent never came back"

"Let me get dressed and I'll be ready to go"

"See you in 5" Skulduggery said as he closed the door behind him. Ten minutes later they were at a shabby looking house in a clearing in a thick forest.

"I'll be right back" Valkyrie said, signalling for him to stay there. Skulduggery went to follow after her but she glared at him. He stood there for a few minutes and just as he was about to go in after her, she came out leading a thin, curly haired boy out into the open. Skulduggery ducked behind a bush as Valkyrie reached up to straighten his collar, but quick as a flash she whipped out a pair of handcuffs and clipped them onto his wrists. The boy howled but Valkyrie was already dragging him to the Bentley and Skulduggery decided it was safe to come out and help.

"What's your power by the way?" Valkyrie asked as they drove to the sanctuary.

"Not telling" he said, sticking out his chin like a little child.

"We'll find out anyway. Tell us now and you'll save yourself a lot of pain" Skulduggery said.

"Fine then. I can make things explode by looking at them. Including people."

"Ew" Valkyrie said, wrinkling her nose.

"I would've exploded you too if you hadn't lied to me" he whined.

"I went in and pretended to be a mortal who had got lost on a day out in the forest." Valkyrie explained.

"What did he say?"

"He asked if I was single" Valkyrie said, shaking her head.

"You _are_ single aren't you?" the boy said and Valkyrie hit him over the head. "Not for you" she replied, sweetly. Finally, they hauled him out and shoved him into a cell.

"Do you think he's related to Scapegrace?" Valkyrie asked as she heard another whining voice beg to be set free.

"Val!" an excited voice cried and Dexter Vex came round the corner.

"Hey Dex!" Valkyrie said and hugged him.

"I preferred the outfit you were wearing yesterday" he whispered so Skulduggery couldn't hear. Valkyrie slapped him playfully.

"I've got to go. Work sucks right?" she said and waved at him. He waved back and continued on his way.

Skulduggery was on the phone as Valkyrie walked back. He nodded and hung up.

"Bad news" he said "A time traveller's opening a portal to try and become Ruler of the World and all that. We need to go stop her" Valkyrie nodded. She started walking towards the Bentley but Skulduggery stopped her.

"I'm going alone on this one"

"No you're not" Valkyrie twisted from his grip and carried on walking. Skulduggery caught up with her and picked her up.

"Yes, I am"

Valkyrie used the shadows to poke him in the stomach.

"Ow" he said, dropping Valkyrie. She smiled and carried on walking. She sat in the Bentley. Skulduggery tried to lift her out and managed to dump her on the pavement but Valkyrie simply brushed herself off and started following the Bentley. Skulduggery shook his head and let her in. It was obvious she wasn't going to give up even if it cost her life. They drove to Aranmore Farm and a crazy looking woman with wild hair and overly large eyes was waving her arms around. A purple-blue hole was appearing in the sky. It was growing larger and larger until the woman noticed Skulduggery and Valkyrie and hissed at them. She threw herself forward to punch Skulduggery but he sprayed her with jets of water. She screamed and lunged at Valkyrie who neatly sidestepped her. The woman lied on the floor.

"Close the portal" Valkyrie snarled.

"It won't close until someone goes through it" she choked.

Valkyrie looked at Skulduggery and he came over.

"There has to be another way"

"There's not"

"Then let's throw a sheep through there or something"

"It has to be someone who possesses magic and I doubt the sheep does"

The nearby sheep baaed and moved off to join its friends, and so was a peek moment in the life of Herman the sheep, but that's another story.

Right now, Skulduggery was talking to Valkyrie about the best way to try and close the portal when the crazy woman leapt up and slammed into Valkyrie. With a scream they both fell into the portal. Skulduggery tried to go in after her but it closed instantly. Valkyrie passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

When Valkyrie opened her eyes she was lying in a field. A boy with crazy red hair and blue eyes helped her up. He had freckles and one tooth missing.

"Who are you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. Instantly, Valkyrie recognised the young Skulduggery.

"I'm… er… Darcy" she said, thinking of the first name that came to her.

"Nice. I'm Sherman" Valkyrie had to stop herself from laughing in his face. The great Skulduggery Pleasant having a name like Sherman.

"That's some weird clothes you got there Darcy"

"Yeah. I'm not from around here. Do you know where I can find some new ones?"

"My friend's dad is a tailor. Come on let's go!" Skulduggery cried, pulling her after him. Valkyrie hesitated.

"I haven't got any money" she mumbled.

"What about your parents?" Skulduggery asked, confused.

"I'm an orphan" Valkyrie nearly started crying as she realised this wasn't a lie. She'd destroyed her family when Darquess had come out to protect her from her physco reflection.

"Where do you live?"

"I'm homeless"

"Oh! Come and meet my mamma and maybe she can find you somewhere to go"

"Thanks Sk- Sherman"

"No problem"

Skulduggery's mother was a huge woman with freckles like her son and frizzy blonde hair.

"Oh you poor thing" she cooed and Valkyrie made her eyes look big and innocent "I can't send you off to one of those awful orphanages. Look at you! You can stay here in the spare room. I've always wanted a little girl"

"Thanks Miss... um…"

"Just call me Mama. Everyone does"

"Thanks Mama."

"She'll need some clothes too" Skulduggery said.

"Indeed she will" Mama pulled out some slivery coins, "Sherman will show you where the tailor is"

Skulduggery grabbed Valkyrie's hand and led her to Ghastly's shop. A thin man with round glasses was sewing.

"Hello there Sherman. I see you brought a friend. Did you know Alex has chosen his name? Ghastly Bespoke!" The young Ghastly came out and winced as he expected Valkyrie to run away from his ugly scars.

"I'm Darcy" Valkyrie said, sticking her hand out. Ghastly shook it, warily. "I need some new clothes."

"Do you have a favourite colour?" Mr Bespoke asked.

"I like the colour black"

Mr Bespoke nodded; slowly "Can't go wrong with black" and he got bust scribbling down ideas.

"I take it you know about magic from the way you weren't horrified by my friend's scars and you keep playing with shadows" Skulduggery said. Valkyrie hadn't realised she'd been absent-mindedly playing with shadows.

"Yeah. I'm a Necromancer and an Elemental"

Skulduggery's mouth widened into an 'O' shape. "So am I!" he grinned.

"Cool!"

"I'm an Elemental" Ghastly whispered, shyly.

"The dress should be ready in a few hours" Mr Bespoke said "Until then you three should go play"

Skulduggery nodded and steered Valkyrie outside. Ghastly trotted after them.

"Where are you from?" Ghastly asked her.

"I was homeless until Mama gave me a home under an hour ago. I'm an orphan."

"I found her lying in the middle of our field" Skulduggery laughed.

"What's your last name, Darcy?" Valkyrie thought frantically for a name.

"Rose" she blurted.

"Darcy Rose. That's a pretty name!"

"Thanks. Ghastly Bespoke is cool and I don't actually know your last name, Sherman"

"It's Wilson"

"Sherman Wilson. Nice"

"It's not nice really. I'm taking ages to pick a taken name. I just can't find a name that suits me!"

"It's worth waiting if you pick the right one" Valkyrie nodded. They ended up in a narrow alleyway. A group of boys were wandering around, looking for trouble.

"Who's the pretty lady?" one of them shouted. She thought she recognised the voice but she couldn't quite place it.

"She's my sister, Solomon"

Valkyrie gasped as the young Solomon Wreath stepped out of the shadows.

"I like her. Hey pretty lady, why don't you come say hi?"

"I'm ok thanks"

"Aww. Come on now, don't be shy" he reached out and grabbed her arm. Valkyrie slapped him away.

"Leave her alone!" Ghastly said.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll hit you" Valkyrie said sweetly. The guys roared with laughter.

"You can't beat up Solomon Wreath" one of them scoffed.

"Want to bet?" she replied. Ghastly and Skulduggery were shaking their heads, frantically but Valkyrie took no notice.

Solomon chuckled and took a step forward, throwing a weak punch to intimidate her. Valkyrie caught it and flipped Solomon onto his back. Skulduggery's mouth fell open and Ghastly squeaked and took a step back. The boys that were around Solomon shuffled back a few steps too. Solomon growled and tried to use the shadows to sweep Valkyrie's feet from underneath her, but she jumped over them and use her own shadows to pin him down. Solomon tried to send a wall of shadows at Valkyrie but she rolled out of the way and stood over Solomon who looked up at her with a scowl on his face.

"Game over" she whispered and started to swagger away. Solomon sent some more shadows after her but she sidestepped them. Ghastly and Skulduggery ran after her.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"You pick up a few tricks when you're on the streets"

"You wait until the guys at school hear about this!"

"School?" Valkyrie asked.

"You don't go to school?"

"Nope. I know spelling and reading and all that but I'm not very good at science" she lied. Valkyrie knew more science than anyone on the planet at that moment.

"She can come to school with us, can't she Alex- I mean, Ghastly?" Skulduggery said, shaking his arm.

"Yeah. It's a magic school, by the way" Ghastly smiled. They began heading back to the tailors to pick up Valkyrie's clothes. She smiled when she saw what was waiting for her. It was a long, lacy black dress that showed off her thin waist.

"And this will be your school uniform" Mr Bespoke said "I assume you'll be going with Ghastly and Sherman" The uniform was a turquoise and white chequered dress with a pair of over knee socks and black shoes.

"You'll have to tie your hair up for school too" Sherman whispered.

"Is this enough to cover the cost?" Valkyrie asked, handing Mr Bespoke the coins.

"You don't have to pay. You've been kind enough to Ghastly and I owe Mama some money anyway. Besides, I've always wanted to help a homeless orphan."

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome" Valkyrie left the shop carrying the heavy material of the clothes. She got back to Skulduggery's house and Mama showed her the room she'd be sleeping in. It was a bit small and not very excitingly decorated but Valkyrie loved it. She closed the door and got changed into the dress. She stepped outside and a boy with straight blonde hair and freckles stopped in front of her.

"You must be the new orphan Mama took in. I'm Berty" he stuck his hand out and Valkyrie shook it.

"I'm Darcy Rose"

"I like your dress" he said, and Valkyrie thought she saw him blush a tiny bit.

"Thanks Berty. It's new" Berty nodded and continued walking the way he had come. Skulduggery walked up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Papa wants to meet you" he said, excitedly. Skulduggery led Valkyrie to the kitchen where a thin man with straight red hair sat talking to Mama.

"Hello there. I'm Papa" he said and rather than shaking her hand he pulled her into a hug.

"I'm Darcy" Valkyrie said and decided she liked Papa a lot.

"I'm a teacher at Sherman's school. You'll be starting school tomorrow"

"Ok" Valkyrie said and followed Skulduggery outside.

"Will you help us on the farm?" he asked.

"Of course! Just tell me what to do"

"Well Mama wants me to milk the cows. You could help with that."

"You'll have to teach me how"

"You've never milked a cow?"

"I've never touched a cow" Valkyrie admitted. Skulduggery gasped.

"This is Betsy" he said, gesturing to a huge cow who was lazily chewing something. Skulduggery showed her how to milk a cow and Valkyrie caught on pretty quickly. It wasn't long before they were finished and hauling back large buckets of milk.

"I can take them" Skulduggery said "You don't have to carry one"

"It's ok. I'm quite strong and I want to help" They struggled back with the huge buckets and Mama watched, impressed.

"It could be useful having you around. It usual takes Sherman two trips to carry all the milk back by himself" Mama said. Skulduggery scowled.

"It would take me a lot more than two trips to bring that lot back" Valkyrie said which cheered Skulduggery up a bit. The family gathered around the table and Papa set out bowls of peas, carrots and other vegetables which the family helped themselves to. The sun had set and Skulduggery yawned.

"Bed time" Mama said steering them in the direction of the bedrooms. Valkyrie scowled at the thought of such an early night but fell asleep surprisingly quickly. That night she had nightmares. She watched the young Skulduggery's skin melt away and her family, screaming her name as she destroyed them with a fireball. She woke up and bit her lip to stop herself from crying. A dark figure opened the door and shuffled in.

"Nightmares?" Berty asked. Valkyrie nodded and Berty sat on the end of the bed.

"I get them too" he said "It all started when I used to have a little sister. Mary, her name was. We were really close. She was five years younger than me but she liked me best. One day we went out to the cliffs. I turned my back for a second and Mary fell over the edge" A tear fell from his eyes.

"I accidently killed my parents and my baby sister" Valkyrie said and she found herself crying too. "Someone was trying to kill me so I shot a fireball at them. I missed and hit my family. The mortals just thought it was a gas leak that had been set alight that killed them"

Valkyrie wrapped her arms around Berty and he hugged her back.

"I know it's really selfish, but I'm glad I found someone who understands how I feel" Berty sniffed.

"Me too"

Berty and Valkyrie fell asleep in each other's arms, with Berty's chin resting on Valkyrie's head. The next morning, Berty left to let Valkyrie get ready for school. She pulled on her uniform which looked surprisingly good and thought about how she was going to wear her hair. In the end she took two sections of hair from the front and plaited them back. She took the rest of her hair and plaited it before wrapping it up into a bun. She pulled two bits down by her ears and smiled at her reflection.

"I like your hair" Skulduggery said as she skipped down to breakfast.

"Thanks" Valkyrie grabbed some toast as they left for school. The school was a big building with five floors and boys and girls wandered around until a shrill bell sounded out through the playground. Skulduggery led her to her classroom and she sat down in the only seat available. The one next to Solomon.

"Hello again"

Valkyrie shook her head and introduced herself to the class as Darcy Rose. One of the girls in the front row whispered something to the girl next to her who giggled. She had blonde hair that was scraped off her face and a gap between her two front teeth. The lesson went well and the teacher explained to everyone how disease was carried through bad smells until the bell rang. Valkyrie followed Skulduggery through the crowds and the girl from earlier tapped her on the shoulder.

"Who are you?" she asked with an ugly expression on her face.

"Darcy Rose"

"That's a dumb name"

"What's your name?"

"I'm Lillia Sparks" Valkyrie sniggered and she scowled even more.

"I see you're with Sherman. I think he only tolerates you because his Mama told him to. Look at you!"

"What about me?"

"You're so ugly. I mean what's up with your…" Lillia faltered "Hair!" she shouted, triumphantly.

"Says you, gap teeth" Lillia's hand flew to her mouth.

"You'll pay for that" she hissed. Ghastly walked up and looked from Valkyrie to Lillia.

"Making friends?" he asked. Valkyrie laughed and Lillia frowned. Valkyrie walked off with Ghastly to find Skulduggery.

"Fine! Go off with scar face!" she yelled. Valkyrie used the shadows to trip her up as she left.

Another girl tapped Valkyrie on the shoulder, shyly.

"Hi there. I'm Joanna" she said. She had blonde hair and huge brown eyes. Her hair was curly and although she'd desperately tried to tie it up a few loose pieces stuck out at odd angles.

"All the girls at school are talking about you. They say you're ugly but they're just jealous of the way all the boys like you. You're really smart too."

"Really? Thanks Joanna! Do you know where my next lesson is, I can't find Sherman anywhere!"

"I think we have maths. You can follow me if you want"

"I'd like that. Lead the way Joanna"

"You can call me Jo. Everyone does." Valkyrie started chatting to Jo as they walked. The bell rang as they neared the classroom. Valkyrie recognised Mr Bespoke and was surprised to find Berty in her class. She sat next to Jo and tilted her head at Berty.

"I'm a year older but I got moved down. I just don't understand all this math stuff" he whispered.

Mr Bespoke taught the class well and Valkyrie found herself being only just above average at maths. Lillia pulled faces at her frequently throughout the day which made Valkyrie laugh. Jo stuck her tongue out at Lillia which shocked everyone. She's always been a shy little thing and constantly bullied by Lillia and her gang. Finally, the time came when they had to line up for PE. Valkyrie couldn't wait to show off her speed and strength. Normal schools would be teaching the girls dance but here at Aranmore Elementary they taught combat. Valkyrie flattened everyone in her weight group and got moved up until the teachers had to pair her with some of the boys. Valkyrie grinned as she went up against Solomon.

"Round 2" she whispered and Solomon threw himself at her. Valkyrie dodged and threw a weak punch which Solomon went to catch. Valkyrie stopped mid-punch and kicked Solomon back. He rolled over and flipped Valkyrie over. Valkyrie twisted in mid flip and landed on her feet, crouching. Still crouching, she swung one leg out to trip Solomon and he landed flat on his face. Valkyrie stood up and brushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. There was silence. Valkyrie looked around and realised everyone else had stopped fighting their opponents and was watching Valkyrie and Solomon. Most of them had their mouths open. Solomon made another desperate attempt to reclaim his pride but he was tired and Valkyrie easily threw him back down to the floor.

As Solomon was lying on the floor, Jo started clapping. People joined in until everyone apart from Lillia and her gang were applauding her performance. Valkyrie bowed. She was going to like it here.


	3. Chapter 3

At lunch, Valkyrie sat talking to Jo.

"Hey Jo" a group of girls chorused. There was about five of them and they sat around chatting.

"We're Jo's friends" one of them said "We saw you fighting and everyone's given you a new nickname"

"Really?" Valkyrie was curious.

"Yeah. We heard that you're an orphan so we called you Bambi"

She took a huge bite out of an apple she was eating and it took Valkyrie a few moments to realise she was looking at the young China Sorrows.

"I'm China, by the way"

Valkyrie went the rest of the day answering to the name Bambi and even the teachers started calling her that. Valkyrie didn't mind. She stayed with Jo and China and sometimes Skulduggery and his friends. Valkyrie spent most nights with Berty who she learned had nightmares just like hers. Valkyrie spent her spare time looking for a time traveller.

"Do you guys have time travellers here?" Valkyrie asked one day. China shook her head.

"I think they died out ages ago" Jo went quiet and later on she pulled Valkyrie to one side.

"Can you keep a massive secret, Bambi?"

"I will if you want me to"

"I'm a time traveller"

"You are? That's amazing!"

"Just don't tell anyone"

"Why not?"

"My mum says that evil people kidnap time travellers and make them send them back in time to kill whoever will rule the world and rule the world themselves"

"Oh. My lips are sealed. It's just, I've been looking for a time traveller for ages"

"Really? Why?"

"Ok Jo. Now it's your go to keep a secret"

Valkyrie told Jo all about how she got thrown through the portal and can't get back.

"I just want to go home"

"I'll help you. Tomorrow night, meet me outside the gates"

"Thanks Jo. This really means a lot to me"

Valkyrie spent the rest of the day mentally saying goodbye to everyone. She didn't think she'd miss anyone apart from Jo and Berty. While lying in bed the night before her departure, she took a deep breath and got ready to say her goodbyes.

"Berty? I think I'm going to leave tomorrow"

"What? Why? Don't you like it here?"

"It's not that. It's just I have to go"

"Then let me come with you, Bambi"

"I can't. I have to go by myself"

"At least tell me where you're going"

"Away. One day you'll know where I went, I promise"

Berty nodded and hugged her tighter. The next morning he turned and put her face in his hands.

"If you're leaving, at least let me give you something to remember me by" and he kissed her before shuffling off to get ready for school. Valkyrie sat there, stunned. Before packing everything she might want to keep into her schoolbag and heading off to school. The day passed much more quickly than Valkyrie would've liked and before long she found herself with Jo who was putting all her effort into making a portal. Just as it began getting wide enough for Valkyrie to get through, the crazy time traveller who sent Valkyrie there in the first place dived on top of Jo.

"You stupid girl!" she hissed. Valkyrie screamed as she recognised the woman. She and Jo had the same wild hair and huge eyes.

"You're Jo!" she shouted.

"Yes I'm Jo and there's a man in those trees there that saw you. He's going to kidnap you just like mum said" she said, shaking younger Jo's shoulders. Valkyrie looked and saw a black figure dart out and snatch Jo.

"NOOOO!" both Jo's howled at Valkyrie threw herself into the portal. She was spat out at Aranmore farm and pulled out her mobile. She rang Skulduggery who picked up before it had even finished ringing.

"I'm back" she said.

A few minutes later, she was telling Skulduggery everything that had happened. He didn't interrupt but nodded a few times. She missed out everything about Berty.

"Poor Jo" Valkyrie said.

"Indeed"

"I still can't believe you're given name was Sherman!"

"What's wrong with Sherman? It's as good as Stephanie"

"It just doesn't suit you"

"What does suit me then?"

"I don't know… um… Robert"

"Robert? Valkyrie, really?"

"Shut up before I start calling you Rob"

Skulduggery shook his head but kept quiet until The Man Who Can't Be Moved by The Script came on the radio and Valkyrie started singing. Skulduggery joined in and they sounded good. Valkyrie's voice was strong but sweet and Skulduggery's voice was low and smooth.

"_Going back to the corner where I first saw you…_"

"Enjoying your sing along?" a voice cut through as the song finished. Tanith grinned at them.

"You guys should quit being detectives and become singers" Ravel chuckled.

"Val's a pretty good singer but Skulduggery was a bit flat" Dexter joked and grinned at Valkyrie.

Ghastly wandered up and smiled at Valkyrie.

"Have you been yet?" Valkyrie knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yup. Thanks for the dress, by the way" Tanith, Ravel and Dexter looked at each other, confused.

"I see Bambi's back" came a voice and Solomon wandered through the door with China following after him.

"It's like a family reunion" said Valkyrie, rolling her eyes and told the others about her time travelling adventures because they were looking a bit bewildered.

"My head still hurts from that smack-down" Solomon said, dryly and Skulduggery chuckled.

"Let's give Valkyrie a coming home party!" squealed Tanith. No one protested. Once Tanith had a party in her mind there was going to be a party. An hour later, Valkyrie was getting dressed up. She wore the dress Mr Bespoke had made for her and her hair in the style she'd worn for school.

"It's like it hasn't even been a day since I saw you looking like that" said Skulduggery.

"It hasn't for me" Valkyrie reminded him.

Ghastly chuckled when he saw Valkyrie and they spent the night watching movies, singing dancing and doing all things crazy. Valkyrie woke up on the sofa with her friends and other people she'd let into her house around her.

"Awake already I see!" Skulduggery said, cheerfully "I got you a coming home present"

"Yay! Give it to me!"

Skulduggery handed her a parcel and she tore away the paper to reveal The Scripts album.

"I know how much you like that song" Skulduggery said, pointing to The Man Who Can't Be Moved.

"Thanks Skul!"

"You're welcome"

That day the sanctuary called and reported sightings of a man who had stolen Sanctuary papers about Skulduggery and Valkyrie.

"Why would someone want that much information about us?" he pondered.

"Maybe we have a fan club"

"I doubt it. Didn't we have a club for people who hate us once?"

"I remember"

"Good times"

The Bentley pulled up outside the Sanctuary where a man was running away from a group of cleavers. He threw fireballs at them but they ran on, gaining on him. The man spotted Valkyrie and stopped. He came into the light and Skulduggery staggered back.

"STOP" Valkyrie roared at the cleavers. They froze. Skulduggery looked closer at the man in front of them.

"B-B-Berty?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Sherman?!" Berty yelled and took a step back "Y-y-you're a _skeleton_" Berty fainted and Valkyrie hauled him into the Bentley.

"He left a year after you did and was never seen again" Skulduggery said as they drove back.

Berty woke up and Valkyrie bent over him.

"Berty?"

"Is Sherman really a skeleton?" Valkyrie nodded and told him everything she knew about life after Skulduggery's death.

"Next question, what the hell are you doing here looking like you haven't aged a day?"

"I was about to ask you the same question"

"Well, I saw Jo make that big blue thing and I made her make one for me. I didn't hurt her or anything but I persuaded her I wasn't here for evil. I don't think she believed me but she opened it anyway and here I am. I heard about a dark haired orphan who'd recently been time travelling and stole files on the name Valkyrie Cain. Then you show up!"

"I'm actually from this time and my name is Valkyrie Cain. I got knocked into a time portal by grown-up Jo and young Jo had to help me get home. I heard someone stole files on us and we had to go figure out who wanted information and why. Then I see you!"

They smiled at each other and Berty sat up.

"Sh- Sherman?"

"Hi Berty. I'm Skulduggery now"

"That's a bit of a mouthful"

"I call him Skul" Valkyrie said.

"Unless I've annoyed her. Then I'm Skulduggery or just 'Pleasant'" Skulduggery chuckled.

"So you guys are pretty close?"

"Best friends for 10 years next week" Valkyrie nodded.

Berty sat back and looked out of the window.

"I bet it's weird suddenly jumping into the future"

"I bet it was weird jumping into the past"

"Yeah. In science when you guys were talking about bad air and I knew about germs"

"Germs?"

"They're like tiny things that breed in dirty places and make you ill"

"No way!"

"Yes way! Wait until you see the TV"

Valkyrie spent the rest of the day showing Berty the sights of the 21st century. He was amazed at the slightest thing and his eyes nearly fell out when he saw how some people were dressed.

"You should've seen my Halloween outfit! I think we've got a video of it somewhere"

"Next year you're going as a nun" Skulduggery said.

"Grumpy" she whispered and Berty chuckled.

That night Valkyrie was back in Berty's arms.

"It's been a year you know"

"For me it's been a few hours. For Skulduggery it's been a few hundred years."

"Does he know about us?"

_There's an us?, _Valkyrie thought

"No. I didn't see any reason to tell him"

"Ok" Berty thought quietly for a minute and looked like he was having a fight with himself. Before he could change his mind, Berty leant forward and kissed Valkyrie. She kissed him back and they fell asleep. The next morning Valkyrie woke up to a strange sound coming from downstairs. She shook Berty awake and put a finger to her lips.

"Hey Val! Long-time no see!" a Texan drawl echoed up the stairs.

"Damn it" Valkyrie cursed and left the room. Berty went to follow after her but she put a finger on her lips again and pushed him into a large cupboard. There was a sound of a scuffle outside and Valkyrie ended up tying up Sanguine and shoving him in the wardrobe. She let Berty out and they got ready for work. Skulduggery knocked on the door and Valkyrie dragged Sanguine down the stairs, making sure he hit his head on each step.

"Hey now! No need for that, is there?"

"You're in my house"

"I see your point…" Valkyrie shook her head and threw him in the Bentley.

"Who's that guy?"

"Skulduggery's brother"

"Funny-bones has a brother? And there's me thinking he comes from a family of skeletons"

"Shut up and let me drive" Skulduggery mumbled from the front seat.

"Hey you!" Three heads looked round at Sanguine "The pretty one" he continued. Berty and Skulduggery faced the front again.

"What do you want?"

"Come sit next to me for a mo." He gestured to the seat next to him which was quite difficult considering he was in handcuffs. Valkyrie looked at him, curiously and climbed from the front seat to next to Sanguine.

"I'm always on the lookout for new clients" he drawled in her ear.

"And?"

"Don't hesitate" And Sanguine slipped Valkyrie a small card with a number on it. Usually she'd tear it up in his face but for some reason she had a horrible feeling this might come in hady. She nodded and crawled back into the front seat.

"What did he want?"

Skulduggery seemed curious and Valkyrie had a feeling he wouldn't act well if he knew the truth. She could practically feel Sanguine squirming in the back seat.

"Nothing. He's just being dumb"

. Sanguine shuffled awkwardly and didn't say anything for the rest of the journey. At the Sanctuary, Skulduggery stormed past dragging Sanguine to a cell.

"What's up with him?" Ravel asked.

"He thinks I'm keeping things from him"

Ravel shook his head and carried on his way.

After a few minutes of standing around, Valkyrie and Berty went back to the Bentley to wait for Skulduggery. They sat there in silence for a few moments before Berty snaked his arm around her waist.

"When are we going to tell him about us?"

"When we find the right moment" Valkyrie promised and they sat there kissing until they saw Skulduggery walking back to the Bentley. Valkyrie started to pull away but Berty caught her.

"Let him see" he laughed and they carried on kissing.

"I see you guys are getting well acquainted" Skulduggery said as he slid into the front seat "How long's this been going on for?"

"A couple of hundred years"

"Right under your non-existent nose" Valkyrie laughed.

Skulduggery shook his head but drove off.

"At least it's not one of those stupid teens you were with on Halloween" Skulduggery mumbled.

"They weren't all teens" Valkyrie said, remembering Vex.

At Gordon's, the gang decided to watch a movie. Luna (a girl who could walk through walls and had her head in the clouds most of the time), Fletcher and his girlfriend Myra had shown up too and they were arguing about what movie to watch. Valkyrie was desperate to watch a horror movie but Tanith wanted an action movie and Luna was begging for something romantic. The argument was getting quite loud and people had to shout to make themselves heard.

"It's Bambi's movies" Berty shouted. They looked at him. Who the hell was Bambi?

"_Thank_ you" Valkyrie said and picked out a horror movie.

"_Bambi_?" Fletcher said.

"Pet name" Skulduggery said and Valkyrie put the movie on and sat on Berty's lap. They spent most of the movie kissing. Fletcher was eager to show everyone that Myra and he had that kind of relationship but Myra seemed disgusted when Fletcher put his arm around her to pull her closer.

"I'm watching the movie" she whispered. Fletcher crossed his arms and tried to pay attention to the vampires on screen but out of the corner of his eye he kept catching sight of Valkyrie. At the end, Tanith turned on the lights and Valkyrie and Berty broke apart.

"That was a good movie" Valkyrie said weakly as she noticed everyone staring. Tanith rolled her eyes and Valkyrie had a feeling Skulduggery would be doing the same if he had eyes.

"We're going now" Fletcher announced.

"Don't I get a hug?" Valkyrie seemed offended.

"A hug?"

"You're like my little brother and you're off to the other side of the world! Don't I get a hug goodbye?"

Fletcher hugged her and she whispered in his ear "Good luck with Myra"

Fletcher raised an eyebrow. How had she known Myra was getting so distant? He took Myra's hand and waved before teleporting with a soft whoosh

"Can you show me where the kitchen is?" Berty asked "I live here but I don't even know where it is"

Valkyrie took his hand and showed him around. She introduced him to Gordon who looked at him, warily but relaxed when he heard he was Skulduggery's brother. They ended up back in the living room where the others were still sat in silence.

"You guys are allowed to talk you know"

They shuffled around and said a few hellos but no real conversation started so Valkyrie suggested they go down to the beach. Tanith grabbed Valkyries hand and pulled her away to find some swimming costumes. She settled on a black strapless swimming costume with a very low back and her hair in that classic plaited style. Tanith's bikini was bright red and she left her hair down. Tanith wore a loose dress over her swimming costume and Valkyrie put on a small pair of shorts so it looked like she was wearing a very tight top. Berty smiled when he saw her and played with one of the loose bits of hair by Valkyrie's ear.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen" he whispered.

"Me?"

"No. The blonde one over there" he said sarcastically, gesturing to the rough direction Tanith was seen last "Of course I mean you Bambi"

"That's so cute!" said a voice from behind them. Valkyrie turned around and Skulduggery coughed awkwardly and shuffled off. Valkyrie and Berty burst out laughing and made their way to the sand.

Berty was an elemental and so they ended up having a huge water fight. Tanith got completely soaked from not being able to control water. Ghastly, Valkyrie and Berty launched a huge wave at Skulduggery who was sitting on the sand in his suit. He roared as he was submerged and dragged out to sea. He splashed around before pulling himself above the waves and walked on water back to them. Valkyrie displaced the air around his feet and he face-planted into the sea. She high fived Berty and they watched as Skulduggery threw a wave at Valkyrie who ducked under and pulled Berty with her. They grinned at each other under the water. They bobbed back up; gasping for breath and Valkyrie saw Skulduggery sat on the sand again. She displaced the air so she could make a pit underneath him. He yelped and fell in before Valkyrie used air to smooth the sand over. Ghastly roared with laughter as a glove-covered hand stuck out of the sand. It made a rude hand gesture towards the general direction of the laughter and Skulduggery climbed out, brushing himself off.

"What if I hadn't been able to get out?" he asked to try and stop Valkyrie laughing at him.

"Then a dog probably would've dug you up" For some reason this made Valkyrie laugh harder. Skulduggery threw her over his shoulder and they made their way back to Gordon's as the sun was setting. They staggered through the door and went their separate ways for the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks so much for the comments so far! Your comments are what keeps me updatin' :b**

**Have fun reading and PM me if you have any amazin' ideas...**

**TheSquirrelLordess Xx**

The next few weeks were boring in Valkyrie's mind. Sanguine had escaped and somehow disappeared off the face of the earth and there were reports of more people than ever being infected but other than that there weren't any cases. Valkyrie spent most of her time with Berty and now they sat at the beach, listening to the waves crash and watching the sunset.

"Why are we here?" Valkyrie asked.

"Do I need a reason?" Berty chuckled. "But as it happens I did have something in mind"

Valkyrie's eyes widened as Berty pulled out a small box. He opened it to reveal a ring studded with diamonds.

"Valkyrie Cain, Bambi, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will" Valkyrie threw her arms around him. They spent a few more minutes watching the sky before running home to tell Skulduggery the news. They were all sat around chatting about the weather when Valkyrie and Berty burst in.

"We're getting married!" Valkyrie squealed and Tanith launched herself at her.

"YAY!" she yelled and hugged her tightly. Skulduggery hugged his brother who seemed as excited as Valkyrie. Valkyrie showed everyone the ring which was sliver and studded with diamonds. There was a delicate swirling pattern engraved on it.

"It's so pretty" Luna said, dreamily, casually walking through the wall to see what all the fuss was about.

"I know!" Tanith was running around in circles. Skulduggery's phone rand and he had to step outside to answer it over Tanith's squealing. He came back in and turned to Valkyrie.

"They've found out where Sanguine is."

"Where?"

"Currently, he's outside your house with a bunch of vampires and infected. Oh- and Dusk to help him out too. We think he's trying to kidnap you and kill all of us" Just then there was a knock on the door.

"I don't know why you bother knocking" Valkyrie called to Sanguine outside.

"Just tryin' to be polite" he said before tunnelling in. A load of vampires smashed down the door and the gang prepared to fight. They tackled the vampires with all their might but Valkyrie knew if she wanted to make it out of this one she'd have to aim to kill. The others must've come to this conclusion too because Tanith didn't hesitate to slice an infected's head off with a sword. Valkyrie used shadows to slice of the infected's head and stab them through the stomach. There was only a handful left now and Valkyrie started battling Dusk. He snarled and leapt towards her but she sidestepped him and used a shadow to cut his arm. He roared and charged. Valkyrie blocked him and put all her effort into throwing shadows and fire at him. She didn't notice one of the infected throw a spear at her. It flew through the air, right on target and about to skewer her through the stomach when Berty noticed and dived in front of it. It pierced him through the stomach and Valkyrie saw him out of the corner of her eye.

"NO!" she screamed. She forgot about Dusk and knelt down beside Berty. He gave her a weak smile before he died. Dusk rose up behind her but Valkyrie turned and with glowing eyes she crushed his head with her bare hands. She caught sight of the infected that had killed Berty about to throw another spear but she put her hands on its shoulders and it shook like a thousand volts of electricity were buzzing through it. Valkyrie turned and with a wave of her hand the rest of the infected disintegrated from the inside out. Skulduggery and the others looked at her but she didn't pay attention to them she knelt back beside Berty. He looked up at the ceiling with lifeless eyes and a smile still etched on his face. Skulduggery went to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to find somewhere to put all these bodies"

"You're brother's dead"

"I still need somewhere to put these bodies. His included"

"You're not even upset you heartless freak"

"When he disappeared all those years ago I assumed he was dead. I did my crying for him then"

"He. Is. Dead"

"And I'm upset but I thought he was dead ages ago"

"You monster"

"It's not _my_ fault he's dead"

"Are you saying this is my fault?"

"No. But without you this wouldn't have happened."

"HE THREW A SPEAR" Valkyrie screamed, pointing to the pile of ash that used to be an infected.

"AT YOU! AND LET'S FACE IT VALKYRIE, IT WOULD PROBABLY BE BETTER IF YOU WERE DEAD INSTEAD OF HIM" There were gasps from everyone else left over from the fight.

"YOU-" Valkyrie started to yell but she stopped and tears filled her eyes.

"You're right" she whispered.

"What?"

"Skulduggery Pleasant, it's been an honour being your partner. These have been the best 10 years of my life" Valkyrie nodded at him and threw Berty over her shoulder. She disappeared.

"VALKYRIE!" Skulduggery roared but she was gone.

"What have I done?" Skulduggery ran outside to try and find her but Valkyrie was nowhere to be seen. Ghastly put a hand on his arm.

"Let's go back to my place. Maybe we can start to think about where she might've gone"

"What have I done Ghastly?"

"Don't worry. We'll find her before she does anything too drastic"

Tanith was cold towards Skulduggery all through the time they were discussing ideas at Ghastly's shop. They'd checked all the obvious places including Gordon's house, Stephanie's house and the pier but there was no sign of her anywhere. Skulduggery had his head in his hands.

"Maybe we should give up the search. She'd been gone for days and she had suicide in her mind when she left." Tanith whispered. She was ghostly pale and her voice rarely rose above a mumble.

"We can't give up! If we leave her she's dead for sure!"

"It's your fault she's gone in the first place"

Taniths voice never rose above a whisper but her words hit Skulduggery like a ton of bricks. The radio was on while they were thinking and 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' came on. He knew she'd be singing if she was here now and it was too much for Skulduggery. He stood up to turn it off. He remembered the lyrics and he had an idea. He didn't even explain he just gasped and bolted out of the door. Ghastly rose to follow him but Skulduggery was too fast, sprinting as fast as he could. He arrived at the graveyard and found a lifeless body under the tree where Valkyrie first caught sight of Skulduggery. _"Maybe you'll come back here to the place that we meet and you'll see me waiting for you on the corner of the street" _echoed in his head_._ Berty was sitting up and rubbing his head and Valkyrie was lying next to him with a blank expression on her face and a single tear track running down her cheek. She had the spear that killed Berty through her stomach and a note nailed to her chest where her heart was. Berty yelled when he saw her and went to pick her up. Skulduggery read the note.

"Skulduggery

If you found this note it means you remembered our song. I'm sorry I won't be there to sing it anymore but you were right. That spear should've killed me. It didn't so I took matters into my own hands. I used Darquess to bring Berty back. I figured if I exchanged a life for a life I could save one more person before I left.

Don't blame yourself for this I should've done it sooner. It's the only way to stop Darquesse killing everyone so it had to be done. Locking me away was never an option. It was too dangerous. I could've escaped and the world needs The Skeleton Detective in action, not looking after the lifeless body of a mass murderer.

I'll miss you and I can't thank you enough for these past few years. Tell Berty I'm sorry I couldn't marry him officially but he was my husband in my heart. Look after everyone for me and put on a brave face.

Sincerely,

Your Valkyrie"

Berty, Tanith, Luna, Fletcher, Ravel and even Ghastly were crying before Skulduggery had even finished the note. Myra looked sad and once he'd finished reading, Skulduggery sat down and was silent. He was silent for hours until his phone rang. His voice was hollow when he picked it up.

"Hello"

"Mr Pleasant" Nye's voice echoed from the other end and Skulduggery very nearly slammed the phone down. "I have incredible news. Come to the sanctuary right away"

Reluctantly, Skulduggery dragged himself to the Bentley and drove over. What was even the point now Valkyrie was dead? Nye greeted him.

"I was inspecting Valkyrie's body, when I noticed on one of our scanners there was a blue light. Valkyrie's magic is still active, it's just her body isn't"

Skulduggery took a moment to process this information.

"Can you bring her back to life?"

"Theoretically if I can just restart her heart she'll heal herself."

Skulduggery had to resist slapping Nye around the face.

"Then what are you still doing here you freak of nature?"

"I want paying. If the girl stays dead I can't be blamed. She killed herself, after all"

"Name your price"

"I want her to work part time as my assistant. I intend to study her actions and learn more about this incredible power source she possesses."

"You have a deal" Skulduggery didn't even need to think about it. It was a choice between sharing Valkyrie and no Valkyrie at all. Nye nodded and scuttled off to begin working.

When Skulduggery told the others the news they cheered. There was some hope for Valkyrie after all. Berty had tears running down his face as he hugged Skulduggery.

"There's no guarantee she'll pull through" Skulduggery reminded them but Tanith was too busy feeling hopeful to take this on board. The next few days were a painful waiting game until one day Skulduggery's phone rang.

"She's alive. I would've called you sooner but she seems quite set on committing suicide again. We've had to tie her down with resolute thread."

"I'll be right there" Skulduggery didn't wait to ask if anyone else wanted to come he just ran down to the Sanctuary. Anyone who had to breathe would be panting and sweating as they neared the Sanctuary, but Skulduggery could run forever if he had to. Nye showed him to a pale girl who was struggling against ropes and thread. She gritted her teeth and managed to break through some bonds but a group of people in white coats ran to tie her down again.

Valkyrie caught sight of Skulduggery and stopped struggling for a moment.

"Don't ever ever ever do that do me again you idiot" he said, pulling her into a fierce hug.

"You might as well kill me. I'm never going to stop struggling. If needs be I just won't eat or drink until I die."

Skulduggery sat beside her.

"What about Berty? Tanith? Fletcher? What about _me_? You know I didn't mean what I said I was just angry that we'd come so close to success without casualties and now my brother was dead. Please stay. I promised I'd help you until the end and it's a promise I want to keep. We all need you here Valkyrie"

"Darquess will kill you all" her voice sounded hollow and emotionless.

"Then let us spend whatever time we have left on this Earth with you. Darquess will come back no matter how dead you are. Once she's got her mind made up nothing will stop her"

"At least being dead I wouldn't have to watch myself do it."

"And so you'd give Darquess free reign of your brain"

"That rhymed" Valkyrie gave a sad smile. "I'm surprised you found me so quickly. Berty said you found me a few moments after I'd died."

"Our song was on the radio"

Valkyrie gave a more genuine smile this time.

"I remember when I first saw you"

"Were you struck by my handsomeness?"

"I was actually thinking 'What kind of weirdo is that?' but good guess"

"I was wondering how someone like you was related to the stupid woman pretending to be sad in the corner"

"Good old Beryl."

Valkyrie shook her head.

"Ok you've convinced me. But at the first chance I get I'm giving up my life for someone else's"

Skulduggery nodded and inside he was crying with joy. He had come within an inch of losing her because he'd lost his stupid temper. Valkyrie wandered back to Gordon's with Skulduggery. Berty caught sight of her and she threw her arms around him.

"You _idiot_" he said but kissed her anyway. Tanith and Ghastly ran out and crushed her between them in a huge hug.

"Val's back!" Tanith screamed.

"Where did she go?" Solomon stepped out of the shadows.

"No big deal" Valkyrie said, hurriedly.

"No big deal? You _died_." Fletcher teleported beside them.

"You died? The why are you here?"

"'Cause I'm cool like that" Valkyrie laughed. A smile twitched at Solomon's lips but he didn't let it show through.

"Being around Mr Pleasant has rubbed off on you more than I thought" he chuckled before disappearing back into the shadows.

"That guy needs to find another way of entering and leaving other than shadows" said Luna dreamily. She went to lean against the wall but fell through it.

"Damn it" she muttered, brushing herself off as she came back into the living room. Valkyrie grinned at her and Luna hugged Valkyrie.

"Don't leave me. Who else is going to forgive me when I accidently walk through the wall into their house? Who's going to be there when I'm daydreaming when something important's being said and I need someone to tell me what they said afterwards?"

"I'm sticking around for a while" Valkyrie said and patted her back. Luna beamed and sat on the carpet.

Fletcher gave Valkyrie a huge hug and almost lifted her off the ground.

"You're back from Australia"

"I was coming here for your _funeral_" he said, waving his arms around.

"You guys were going to give me a funeral? I'm flattered"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"It seems like a lot of effort for the five or six people who'd actually bother coming"

"I thought I'd heard it wrong when they said you were _dead_."

"With you living so far away and me risking my life every day you're going to have to accept that one day you're going to get that phone call for real"

"I've been thinking about that. I want to move back to Ireland. You guys are the only friends I have and I barely see you. I like saving your butts on missions too"

"What about Myra?"

"We weren't working out"

"Oh. I noticed you two were getting kind of distant but I thought you'd smooth it over"

"Nope. I told her I thought we were growing apart and she went physco on me! She threw a book at my head!"

"Was your hair ok?"

"Yes, thank God"

Valkyrie laughed. Skulduggery tapped her on the shoulder and led her away.

"Sanguine escaped you know. He's bound to be back and when he is we're all in trouble"

"We'll jump that hurdle when we come to it" She patted him on the shoulder and ran off to find Berty. Skulduggery sighed. Was she ever going to wake up and see what danger she was in?


	6. Chapter 6

Valkyrie wandered around Haggard in a daze if happiness. She was getting married in a couple of days and twirled her ring around her finger, thoughtfully. Valkyrie noticed the sun was setting and decided to get back to Gordon's. She spotted a small alleyway running behind the nightclub and decided to take a look. In a fight, this alleyway could save her life if she needs a quick get away, she thought as she took a step. Instantly, a cold breeze swept over her and she shivered as she took cautious footsteps into the darkness. She could hear people giggling ahead and didn't want to interrupt anything but she was nearly at the end and was desperate to explore the final few steps. She caught sight of the couple in the half light and froze. Berty was kissing China Sorrows. Valkyrie didn't say anything. She just put up her hood and hurried past, hiding her face. Berty didn't even notice. At Gordon's, Valkyrie burst into tears and wasted no time in throwing all of Berty's things outside. The last thing to go was a picture of them. She threw it down hard and I smashed right down the middle, cutting Valkyrie away from Berty for good. Valkyrie took off her engagement ring and stamped on it. The 'diamonds' crunched under her boot. Great. They were fakes too. Berty got home and his eyes opened wide when he saw he mess Valkyrie had made.

"What the hell?!"

"I figured you would prefer living with China instead" Valkyrie's voice was cold but tears ran down her cheeks.

"Oh um. Valkyrie I'm-"

"You're wasting your breath. Get out now before I make you get out"

Berty paled and gave a short wave as he grabbed what he could from the pile of his stuff and ran down Gordon's front path. He began running but Skulduggery (who had been eavesdropping the whole time) caught him and punched him round the face.

"Sherman? We're brothers!"

"You cheat on my best friend who, by the way, your were getting married to with the woman who helped kill my wife and child and you expect me to be nice to you because we're RELATED?"

Berty bolted away before Skulduggery could aim for another punch and Skulduggery went to comfort Valkyrie. He found her on her bed crying. He sat down next to her and patted her back.

"He didn't deserve you anyway. You're going to find a much better man than him and the you'll be able to laugh in his face"

Valkyrie sniffed and gave what Skulduggery thought was a nod. Fletcher teleported into the room and gave Skulduggery a quizzical look.

"Berty cheating" he explained.

"Oh. Well I know how THAT feels" Fletcher said, smugly. Valkyrie wailed even more and Skulduggery glared at him.

"What goes around comes around" he mumbled and teleported as Skulduggery's fist went flying thoroughly the air where he'd just been.

"Ignore him"

Skulduggery considered calling Tanith but decided he wanted to talk to Valkyrie for a while. It was so rare that they were alone together these days. Valkyrie looked up at him and gave a weak smile.

"I'm going to miss him" she croaked.

"Me too" Skulduggery said, hugging her. She sighed and mumbled something about having to get up.

"Wedding plans to cancel" she whispered. It was obvious Valkyrie was tired and Skulduggery could've sworn her eyes were drooping.

"Tanith and I could do that" Skulduggery insisted. Valkyrie nodded and rubbed her eyes (which were still saw from crying) and fell asleep still hugging Skulduggery. He shook his head at the thought of anyone crushing a girl like her. She looked so innocent with bright cheeks from crying and her mouth slightly open. The door creaked and Tanith shuffled in, noticed she was asleep and beckoned Skulduggery to step outside. He did as he was told and explained to Tanith about Berty and China. She shook her head, angrily.

"How could he?" she hissed. "At least she found out before hey were married. I don't think she could cope with all those divorce papers"

"I can't believe he asked her to marry him. He's sick, evil and twisted and not definitely NOT my brother"

"How can he not be your brother? You're related"

"He's not my brother as you're Valkyrie's sister"

"Got it" Tanith was pale and Ghastly came up and put an arm around her waist.

"Fletcher told me what happened" Skulduggery gave a nod and signalled for them to leave. They left Gordon's house and Skulduggery went to tell Echo Gordon about the change of plans.

"If I was real..." he growled and Skulduggery nodded.

"Don't worry Gordon. He's not coming back anytime soon"

Suddenly there was a scream from Valkyries bedroom and Skulduggery burst in to find her thrashing around on her bed. Tears poured from her eyes as she sat up and let Skulduggery sit on he bed next to her. Normally she'd shoo him away and tell him she was fine and nightmares wouldn't kill her but right now she needed someone to talk to.

"Do you think Fletcher was right?"

"When is Fletcher ever right?"

"Maybe I wasn't good enough for him. For either of them."

"What are you on about?"

"You know me better than I know myself Skulduggery. I'm Stephanie Edgley, Valkyrie Cain and Darquess. All three."

"Darquess-"

"-isn't going to be a separate person for much longer if this goes on much longer. I keep getting stomped on and it's not fair. I could show them all what they did to me but I don't because I know, deep down it's what I deserve"

"Valkyrie don't be crazy. You're sweet and funny and a do-gooder. Much like me. Just because of our pasts we can't judge ourselves."

"It's not so past for me Skulduggery"

"Fletcher's an idiot. He's just still sore about the fact he wasn't good enough for you and sees this as his revenge. You can't let him have his revenge Valkyrie. You've got to be strong"

There was a soft whoosh as the man himself teleported into Valkyries bedroom. He wore a smug expression on his face and opened his mouth to gloat but froze when he noticed Skulduggery. Valkyrie touched his shoulder and Fletcher shoved her off, preparing to teleport away as Skulduggery leapt up. He almost yelled when he realised he couldn't teleport.

"Don't hit him yet" Valkyrie said. She observed him win a kind of curiosity like a child watching an animal in the zoo. Fletcher desperately tried to teleport but he just couldn't.

"W-what d-did you d-do to m-m-me?" he stuttered. Skulduggery tilted his head to the side to show he was confused. Valkyrie grinned and disappeared into thin air... and reappeared next Fletcher!

"This is so cool!" she squealed, teleporting around the house.

"You stole my power" Fletcher screeched and grabbed Valkyrie.

"You can't get it back" she stated, simply.

"Please" Fletcher pouted but was only rewarded with a slap from Valkyrie.

"You stole his MAGIC?" Skulduggery said.

"I'll explain when Fletcher's gone"

"I'm not leaving without my magic"

Valkyrie sighed and grabbed Fletcher. She teleported them to a murder scene she and Skulduggery had visited a while ago. The countryside was quiet and it was in he middle of nowhere. Fletcher shivered as Valkyrie let go of him.

"I don't ever want to see you again Fletcher. My enemy list is too big already." she shook her head and teleported home, leaving Fletcher behind. Back at Gordon's, Skulduggery folded his arms.

"You can't raise your eyebrows if you're a skeleton" Valkyrie mumbled and Skulduggery responded by activating the facade. He raised his right eyebrow and Valkyrie took a deep breath.

"It's a simple explanation really. My emotions were already running high and when I saw Fletcher's stupid face I cracked. The temporary meltdown was enough for me to merge my powers with Darquess, temporarily, and steal Fletcher's teleportation magic. I figured it would be more fun than physically hurting him"

"Emotional meltdown? You seemed so calm!"

"I'm a crazy 19 year old girl. It's when I go calm and quiet that you need to worry"

Skulduggery shook his head but moved so she could crawl back into her bed. He went to leave but hesitated. He knew he'd feel a lot safer knowing he could watch over Valkyrie and make sure nothing bad happened, but there was a good chance that Valkyrie would rather be alone to cry in peace. Valkyrie noticed him still standing in the doorway and gestured to the empty seat beside her bed. Skulduggery would've smiled if he could've as he settled down and began to hum a soft tune. She fell asleep to his voice and shook in the night but she didn't scream at the horrifying nightmares. She opened her eyes early the next morning, breathing heavily from the restless sleep.

"Skulduggery?"

"Yes?"

"Oh. I was just checking you're still here"

"I'm here"

"I can hear that"

"Then why did you ask?"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"You're thinking"

"No need to sound so surprised"

"What are you thinking about?"

"I'm wondering if Fletcher's found his way to anywhere he knows yet. It must be hell not being able to teleport after such a long time"

"On the plus side you can teleport us put of trouble if we need a quick escape"

"On the plus side? I never said Fletcher being sad was a bad thing"

"True"

There was a comfortable silence until Tanith pounded on the window.

"Let me in" she mouthed and Valkyrie swung herself out of bed and opened the window.

"Fletcher's lost his magic!" she squeaked as soon as she was safely in Valkyrie's bedroom.

"I know. It's a long story but its me who took it" Valkyrie said, showing off her teleportation to Tanith who gave her a high five.

"Let's celebrate with a few rounds of truth or dare at my house as soon as you guys have finished work"

Valkyrie nodded even though she didn't feel like truth or dare and went to brush her hair. She brushed it so it was still a tiny but messy and slightly wavy.

"What's the case today?"

"A half man half monster called Dr Oblivion tried to create the perfect superhuman but ended up with creating twins called Elsie and Lisa Styles. The twins murdered Dr Oblivious and escaped from his laboratory. Yesterday Miss Florence Scarlet was murdered by the twins and a Sanctuary agent has recently discovered that she was their 'mother' when it came to the experiment"

"So we have to find them?"

"We do"

"Then let's roll"

The first stop to find the twins was the murder scene. A beautiful woman with white hair and pale eyes was lying on the floor with a dagger in her stomach. Skulduggery looked around the room and Valkyrie did the same. She noticed an old newspaper cutting in the corner of the room, caught on the windowsill and fluttering in the wind. She picked it up.

"Styles Childs" the headline screamed.

There was a picture of the woman holding a baby in each arm. She was smiling at the camera but the babies were perfectly emotionless and blank.

"Earlier today, Elsie and Lisa Styles were created. Their mother explains the joys of finally having children. 'Well I always wanted children and these are perfect' she says 'if it was up to me I'd bring them home with me, but the Dr and his assistant, Lawrence Power want them to live in the laboratory to observe their behaviour' Florence Scarlet was an ordin-" The article was ripped off there so Valkyrie couldn't read anymore but she passed the evidence on to Skulduggery who was just about ready to leave. He read it without saying a word and then nodded.

"Good work. It looks like we need to track down this Lawrence Power"

"Let's go home for the night. Another Sanctuary agent can easily do the kind of research we need and call us if they find anything"

"Ok then. Let's head home"

"Oh. I just remembered we need to go to Tanith's place for truth or dare"

Grumbling, Skulduggery called Tanith and let her know they were on their way.

"Before we go, there's one more power I think you could steal..."

"Well I'm still pretty emotional. I just need something to tip me over"

"She'll tip you over alright..."

A few minutes later, Skulduggery and Valkyrie were teleporting outside Tanith's apartment, away from China who was screaming. Her black hair had a few grey hairs and her blue eyes seemed dull as they waved goodbye. Tanith opened the door and gaped at Valkyrie.

"You stole China's power too?"

"How do you know it wasn't just my outstanding beauty?" she asked, pretending to be offended but she stopped enchanting Tanith and they went into her bedroom. Ghastly, Ravel, Luna and Myra were already sat in a circle. They all gasped as Valkyrie walked in.

"Stop that" Skulduggery and Tanith said in unison. Valkyrie laughed at their faces and sat next to Ravel who still looked shocked. Tanith pulled out an old fruit shoot bottle.

"Fruit Shoot? Really?" Tanith gave Skulduggery a look and span the bottle.

"I thought this was truth of dare!" Ravel said as the bottle stopped and pointed at him.

"It's a cross between truth or dare and spin the bottle. Rules are no boy and boy/ girl and girl kissing. Other than that it's pretty straightforward"

"Truth or Dare?" Valkyrie asked Ravel.

"Um. Truth?"

"Do you fancy someone you work with? That can be anyone who works with the Sanctuary as you're Grand Mage."

Ravel blushed.

"W-well yeah. A bit"

Skulduggery was curious.

"Who?"

"That's next time"

The bottle was spun again and Valkyrie noticed a tiny flick of Skulduggery's finger and the bottle stopped on Ravel again.

"Who?" Skulduggery repeated.

"I choose dare"

Skulduggery grumbled and the others huddled together to choose Ravel's dare. There was some whispering then a giggle and Valkyrie and Skulduggery yelled "NO WAY" at the same time. Some more whispering went on then Ghastly, Tanith, Luna, Fletcher and Myra raised their hands. Valkyrie was scowling as they returned to their seats.

"We took a vote, and we dare you to kiss Valkyrie for at least ten seconds"

Ravel raised an eyebrow and Valkyrie rolled her eyes. Before she could chicken out, Valkyrie leaned in and Ravel me her. Their lips crushed together and on 10 they broke apart.

"We so thought you'd chicken out of that, Val" Tanith said, with her mouth slightly open.

"You guys think I'm chicken?"

"I knew you'd do it but they didn't believe me" Skulduggery huffed. Tanith reached forward and spun the bottle. It slowed to a stop on Luna who chose dare.

"We dare you to walk into a sorcerer's house while they're showering"

Luna nodded and hesitated before taking a camera from Tanith (to prove she'd done the dare) and wandered through he walks until she found an old sorcerer in the bath. He yelled and Luna took a photo before hurrying back the way she came. They roared with laughter as they studied the photo which was of a man called Harrien Spile, who only Ravel seemed to have heard of.

"He's from the Scottish Sanctuary" Ravel laughed.

Ghastly sniggered and they spun the bottle again. The dares and truths got better and better until Ghastly and Tanith weren't planning to stop their dare. When things got a little bit too heated to be comfortable the others left.

"Well that was fun" Valkyrie said, collapsing onto the sofa after teleporting home and changing into her pyjamas.

"That was awful!" Skulduggery shuddered at the memory if his most recent dare.

*Flashback*

_"We dare you to kiss Ravel"_

_"What happened to no boy and boy kissing?"_

_"Technically you're not a boy. You're a skeleton"_

_"You're not serious?"_

_"We are"_

_Skulduggery shivered as Ravel kissed his teeth, awkwardly. _

_"Ew" Skulduggery was not afraid to hurt Ravel's feelings._

_Valkyrie started randomly laughing hysterically and Tanith joined when she realised Valkyrie managed to take a photo of them on her phone._

_"YOU CAN'T DO THAT! IM HEAD DETECTIVE AND HE'S GRAND MAGE" Skulduggery roared, leaping to grab the phone. He missed and Valkyrie showed Skulduggery the screen. She had Facebook up and the photo was ready to be posted. She had her finger on the post button._

_"One wrong move..."_

_Skulduggery froze._

*End flashback*

"Thank god your pone ran out of battery before you could post that darn photo"

Valkyrie chuckled weakly before drifting off to sleep. Skulduggery tucked her in, then left to go to his own house. Valkyrie smiled in her sleep as Skulduggery whispered a final goodnight and closed the door with a soft click.


	7. Chapter 7

**iWarning! These next few chapters are gonna contain some Valguine. Weird, I know, but I 3 the pairing and there aren't many stories on it. Don't like the pairing=Don't read the chapters**

**Thanks for your reviews so far guys x**

**TheSquirrelLordess**

The next morning Valkyrie felt a hand dragging her of the sofa. She jerked awake as she hit the floor and tried to scream as a hollow man dragged her across the carpet. She was handcuffed with her own set of handcuffs and tied up with rags and strips of cloth. She thrashed around by the hollow man continued to pull her out the door and throw her into a van. She hit the floor hard and blacked out as the hollow man climbed into the passenger seat. The driver chuckled and left.

Valkyrie woke up in a huge room with nothing but stone walls and a single window. She looked around and her eyes widened as she noticed the bodies littering the floor.

"They're the ones whose ransom weren't paid" said a familiar voice and Valkyrie spotted a blonde Texan sitting amongst the carnage.

"Ransom?"

"That's what these people do. They think sword-lady might give up some cash for me and Funny Bones might part with his dosh for you. I'll probably be one of them in about a week." He drawled, gesturing to the dead bodies around him.

"Got it" Valkyrie sat on the floor and looked up at the roof. She stood up and inspected the window.

"You aint gettin' through that. The best mortals can make enhanced with magic, that's what that is"

Valkyrie didn't doubt that was true but she hit it anyway. She went and sat down again.

"Once we're out of here y'all be in big trouble…" he began but Valkyrie cut him off.

"Do you really think this is the time?"

Sanguine nodded and there was silence until a huge, muscly man covered in tattoos came and grabbed Valkyrie.

"Hey!" she said and lashed out but the room was bound and the man caught her punches and picked her up easily. He handcuffed her and dragged her away. Sanguine watched as he opened the door and made a run for it but was blasted back by a thin woman who pushed the air, lazily. Valkyrie was carried away, screaming and tied to a chair in another room. The got out the knife and Valkyrie opened her mouth to yell again but stopped when she noticed the cameras in the corner of the room. They would probably send this to Skulduggery. She had to be strong for him.

"Hi there!" she said, waving at the camera's cheerfully.

"Shut up" the tattooed man said and the stick-thin woman drew the knife across Valkyrie's stomach. "You're going to have to do better than that" she said but her teeth were gritted and a bead of sweat ran down her forehead. The woman threw the knife away and pulled out a whip. She hit Valkyrie across the face and blood ran down her cheek but she never stopped smiling. The woman threw her across the room and she hit the far wall. She slumped on the floor and chuckled weakly.

"Nice one"

The woman was getting irritated and she walked forward and kicked Valkyrie with steel-toed boots. Valkyrie grunted but didn't make any other sound and gave a thumbs up to the cameras.

"We don't want to kill her…" tattoo man warned and the woman took a deep breath before dragging a rather beaten-up Valkyrie back to the room. Sanguine's jaw dropped when he saw her and she laid on the floor amongst the dead bodies, looking up at the roof. Here, where no one could see her, a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Y-you alive over there?" Sanguine asked, moving slowly to where Valkyrie lay.

"Barely" she croaked and passed out. When she opened her eyes Sanguine was bent over her.

"I thought you were dead" he said.

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"_I_ want to kill you. Can't let them spoil the fun" Sanguine said but he looked unsure. Valkyrie sat up and ripped some cloth from her pyjama top. She mopped up her face and tied it around the wound on her stomach. She tried to finish the knot but her hands were a mess and she hissed in pain and dropped the cloth every time she'd nearly finished.

"Um... Sanguine? I know this is a weird request but I need someone to finish this knot."

"Um... ok" Sanguine shuffled over awkwardly and tied the knot.

"Thanks"

Sanguine moved back to where he was sitting before and watcher her as she shivered. He took his jacket off and threw it at her and she caught it with ease, pulling it over her shoulders. She smiled weakly and fell asleep. She was leaning up against the wall and a piece of hair drooped across her face. Sanguine fought the urge to tuck it behind her ear. While she was sleeping she looked so innocent, but Sanguine knew how dangerous she could really be. He remembered how she could flip and kick and punch in one fluid motion, sending her enemy's flying in all directions. He'd nearly laughed out loud when he discovered Skulduggery Pleasant's new partner was a little girl. He stopped laughing when she escaped.

Valkyrie rolled over in her sleep and her cheek was pushed up against the wall. Sanguine chuckled as she started sliding down the wall. Valkyrie hit the floor and jerked awake.

"What are you looking at?" she said as she sat up and checked her wounds.

"Your face is bleedin' again" Sanguine pointed out. Valkyrie nodded and wiped the blood off her face.

"Why they doin' all that to ya anyway?"

"They want to send a video to Skulduggery, I think"

"That's a pretty bad beatin' for a video tape"

"I wouldn't let them get to me. I didn't make a sound unless I was laughing at them and it annoyed the woman. I think she would've killed me if that man hadn't reminded her they needed me for the money"

"Too stuborn for ya own good"

"That's what most people say"

The sun was setting outside the single window and Valkyrie yawned. She'd spent most of the day sleeping but she was worn out.

"Let's clear the floor" Valkyrie said, pushing the bodies to one side of the room.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to wake up and have a dead guy looking me in the face"

Sanguine watched her for a while before moving a few of the bodies around him. There was now a clear space in the middle of the floor and the bodies bordered the room. Various pools of blood littered the floor but it was better than before. She laid down where there didn't seem to be too much blood and closed her eyes. Sanguine looked outside and decided sleeping would be a good way to pass the time. He laid down on the other side of the room and feel asleep before he was shaken awake by the sound of screaming.

"What in the name of-"

He stopped when he saw Valkyrie with tears running down her cheeks and her eyes wide open.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"Yeah…"

"I get nightmares. I should've told you before I feel asleep"

"No problem. You alright?"

"I'll live"

Sanguine nodded and returned to his position on the floor. Valkyrie started singing softly. She didn't sing any particular song but she started singing 'The Power Of Love' and changed songs until she reached the beginning of 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved'. She sang the first few lines then stopped because it made her think of Skulduggery. She wished he would come but wanted him to stay away at the same time. She had a horrible feeling Ravel would pay the ransom if it made Skulduggery calm down and she knew the Sanctuary needed as much money as possible with the crisis of the 'Supreme Council' (a group of agents who watched over Ireland and would 'help out' if anything cropped up) watching their every move.

Sanguine listened to her singing and found he was disappointed when she stopped. The silence that followed was thick and uncomfortable for Sanguine.

"Nice singing" de drawled to see if Valkyrie was still awake.

"Sorry if I stopped you sleeping. I forgot you were there"

"No it was actually pretty good. You sing often?"

"No. Stage fright or something I guess"

"Stage fright? You're Valkyrie firggin' Cain!"

"I know right? How dumb is that?" she chuckled "There's so much people don't know about me"

"Fill me in"

"You really want to hear my life story?"

"I've got nothin' better to do"

"Fine. Just so you know I'm missing out everything you could use against me"

"Naturally"

"Well I was a mortal before my uncle died and Skulduggery saved me when these weird people tried to murder me. From then on I stuck with Skulduggery and he let me tag around after him. We went on all sorts of cases together. Things were going pretty good until a while ago when my reflection went crazy and I tried to kill it. I missed and killed my family. After that things got from bad to worse as I got shunted into the past. I met Skulduggery when he was younger and his brother Berty. When I got back Berty followed and we started dating. We were going to get married"

"Were?"

"He cheated on me with China and then Fletcher, who'd my ex by the way, came to rub it in my face"

"Oh. Bummer"

"Yeah. I got my revenge though" Valkyrie smiled evilly

"What did you do to them?"

"Ok. Tell anyone this and you die a horribly painful death"

"My lips are sealed"

"Well when I get really angry or upset, sometimes I have special powers"

"Special powers?"

"Yeah. I can't always tell what they're going to be. In this case I got the power to steal anyone else's power. I'm now officially the world's last teleporter and I grabbed China's power to charm people while I was at it."

"You're jokin'"

"I swear to you I'm not even kidding. When we get out of here I'll show you if you like"

"So if I really annoyed you then you'd go crazy on me?"

"In this building our powers are bound but otherwise yeah"

"So why didn't you get these powers in other fights we had?"

"I couldn't do it in the beginning. It's only recently that I've been able to fuse Darquess' pow-" Valkyrie stopped and realised her mistake. She bit her lip and prayed Sanguine hadn't heard that last bit.

"Darquess? What's she got to do with this?"

"Nothing"

"Liar"

"It doesn't matter"

"You know her don't you? You know where she is? You were goin' to say somethin' about fusing her powers with yours weren't you? You guys must be pretty close"

"Sanguine now you have that information I'm going to have to kill you"

Sanguine didn't doubt her for a second.

"Wait a minute here. How d'you know I was gonna tell? There wouldn't be any reasons to arrest ya if an escaped criminal hollered somthin' about Darquess. They'd think I was crazy"

"They'd think you were even crazier if you knew the truth"

"The truth?"

"Look. I'm going to tell you what I know but if you so much as whisper a word, or even a hint, to _anyone_-"

"I know. Just get on with it"

Valkyrie took a deep breath. She wasn't entirely sure why she was telling him this but he was right about the Sanctuary thinking her was crazy and maybe if he knew about Darquess he'd leave her alone and realise he had no chance.

"I'm Darquess"

"You what?"

"Stephanie Edgley is my given name, Valkyrie Cain is my taken name and Darquess is my true name. I got it sealed ages ago so don't even try that"

"Does Funny Bones know?"

"He does. The special powers I get are when Darquess comes out. She's like my subconscious. My bad mood, as Skulduggery likes to say."

"Who woulda thought?"

"Not me that's for sure"

"So how'd you figure it out?"

"Before I met you we fought Serpine. In that battle the book of names fell and I caught a glimpse of my true name. A little while later the visions about Darquess began and I got my name sealed. Skulduggery found out a little while after that"

"Who else knows?"

"So far the list is me, you, Skulduggery, my reflection, Tanith and the remnants"

"I wondered why she worshipped you when that thing was in her"

Valkyrie laughed as the sun started to rise.

"So what about you? Were you born without eyes? Were you ever a mortal? Do you have a family?"

"In answer to the eyes question' I was born with eyes. Some darn witch cursed 'em off after I killed her daughter. I loved my eyes. Bright green with flecks of blue" he smiled as he remembered the way they sparkled when he looked in the mirror, "I have a family and you've met my dear Pa. I had a sister but she disappeared off the face of the Earth a while back and was never seen again. I was born into magic"

"Cool." Valkyrie said unwinding the bandage around her stomach and taking off Sanguine's jacket.

"What are ya doin'?"

"If those guys come back I don't want them to know I've been patching myself up. Also, if I get another cut like this one" Valkyrie said gesturing to the cut on her stomach "I need you to patch me up if I've passed out. I don't plan to die any time soon and too much blood loss could easily be the end of me"

Sanguine nodded and Valkyrie threw him the jacket and the cloth she was using as a bandage. The door slammed open and Valkyrie gave a sad smile as she was dragged away. When she was thrown into the room again her shirt was torn and there were dozens of tiny cuts along her back. Her arm was bent at an odd angle and it was obviously broken. Blood ran from Valkyries forehead down her right cheek.

"If you could get to that patching up that would be great" she whispered before she slumped to the ground. Sanguine ripped some bits of cloth from his own clothes and some from her shirt and began bandaging her up. She woke up as he finished bandaging her head and she sat up.

"How bad is it?"

"I managed to patch you up ok"

"Thanks" Valkyrie touched her head and stood up.

"Where ya goin' now?"

"I want to look out of the window. To see if I can get any clues to where we are" she stood at the window for a moment but shook her head. "Nothing but fields"

Sanguine stood up and went over to her. He passed her his jacket and she took it, gratefully.

"It's freezing in here"

Sanguine raised an eyebrow. The room was pretty normal temperature and she was supposed to be used to Irish weather by now. Valkyrie wobbled a bit as she stood.

"Maybe you should be sittin' down with all those injuries and all"

Valkyrie nodded and dropped to the floor. She swayed a bit and Sanguine looked down on her.

"You feelin' alright?"

Valkyrie shook her head and Sanguine put a hand on her forehead. He pulled it back, sharply.

"Now that's a fever if I ever saw one" he mumbled and paced the floor. Valkyrie watched him before she felt dizzy and laid down. She fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning when the sun was rising. Sanguine was poking her awake.

"The troublesome two'll be turnin' up soon. I already took most of the bandages off for ya but there's a few you'll want to do yourself. Valkyrie nodded and removed the rest of your bandages from her chest and thighs. A few minutes later, the door slammed open and Valkyrie was dragged for another round of torture. The thin woman was furious as Valkyrie didn't even say anything as she was whipped and cut and thrown around like a rag doll. She sat there with the same bored expression and the muscly man noticed how pale and weak she was. The woman finished throwing her against a chair and the man put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look at her. She hasn't got long left anyway. Let her die with the other bodies and that way we won't have to move her there" he growled. The woman nodded and Sanguine rushed over to her as soon as the door closed. Her chest was rising and falling but her eyes were glassy and Sanguine patched her up as best he could. She sat up and had to lay down again. Her head was spinning like crazy.

"I'm not gonna lie. You're not lookin' good"

"They're not coming for me anymore. They think it would be easier if I died here" her voice sounded oddly slurred.

"You're gonna die?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. If you want to finish me off you'd better grab your chance"

"They took my razor"

"Strangle me or something"

Sanguine frowned as he looked at her. Her dark hair contrasted her white skin and her eyes stood out more than they should. She was still pretty even in this state. He tilted his head at her.

"Maybe you'll live"

"I wish" Valkyrie said, chuckling. She fell asleep and Sanguine found he was worried she wouldn't wake up. He scolded myself for getting so attached to Valkyrie and sat and watched her sleep. He drifted off and woke up to the sound of his name being called.

"Sanguine?" Valkyrie croaked.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry to wake you up but I don't think I'm going to last much longer. If there's anything you wanted to do, now's the time" Valkyrie braced herself for the pain and nearly fainted again when she felt Sanguine's lips push against hers. He kissed her and she gaped at him when he pulled away. Sanguine nodded and felt the heat rise in his cheeks.

"Y-you ok? 'M sorry about that I just figure if I'm not gonna see you again I might as well."

"Fine" Valkyrie said and summoned enough energy to lift herself up and rest her head on Sanguine's shoulder. He smiled at her and she fell asleep again. Sanguine realised he'd have to find a way out of here and fast if he wanted to keep her alive. Suddenly, he had an idea. Sanguine wrapped Valkyrie up in all the 'bandages' he could get and picked her up. She was incredibly light and Sanguine had to problem lifting her with one hand and pounding on the door with the other. He hit the door until the woman got irritated and came to check what the noise was. What she wasn't expecting was Sanguine pelting past her at full speed as soon as the door was wide enough and sprinting down the corridors.

"GAVIN!" she screamed and went to chase after him but she was nearing the door already. The muscly man who must've been called Gavin came stumbling out of one of the rooms leading for the main corridor and tried to barrel into Sanguine as they stepped outside. Sanguine sank into the ground and Gavin flew straight past him. Sanguine still had hold of Valkyrie and tunnelled to the Sanctuary. He left her outside Nye's lab and pounded on the door before disappearing just in time to be unnoticed by Nye as it opened the door and spotted Valkyrie. It grabbed her and began working straight away. It instructed Clarabelle to call Skulduggery and she did.

"Hello Skulduggery. We've got Valkyrie here at the Sanctuary. I thin-" but Clarabelle was cut off as Skulduggery hung up. A few minutes later, he shot through the door and Nye but a hand up to show it was still working on Valkyrie. Skulduggery watched patiently for a few hours as Nye flew around getting various pieces of equipment and connecting tube after tube to Valkyrie. Valkyrie herself was lying on the hospital bed still bandaged up with various bits of cloth. If he could Skulduggery would've paled as Nye removed the cloth to reveal the horrible gashes and cuts all over her body. He gritted his teeth as he noticed the blood and bruises all over her face. Her arm was still bent at an awkward angle and her shallow breathing was worryingly irregular as Nye hooked her up to a machine with a dozen different screens. Skulduggery didn't know much about these machines but he knew a heartbeat when he saw one and hers was slow and weak. Nye hooked up a few more wires and stood back to admire its work. Valkyrie still had her eyes closed and Nye took out some needles and injected some purple liquid into her arm and held it in place as the skin rippled and the bone healed itself. He repeated this on a few different injuries which all healed remarkably quickly.

"Why don't you use that on our injuries usually?" Skulduggery asked, annoyed that there was such a quick way to heal injuries that usually took days to heal even in the magical community.

"Because it's incredibly painful and if she could feel pain right now she'd be screaming and begging for it to stop. Also before you ask, I don't know how she got here there was a knock on my door and she was there on the floor" its high voice echoed around the hospital ward. Nye went off to do some other work and Skulduggery never tore his gaze from Valkyrie. After a while, her chest shuddered and Valkyrie gasped for breath. She opened her eyes and caught sight of Skulduggery.

"Valkyrie! I saw those awful videos but we couldn't find you anywhere and then we saw the one when they said you were dead and then I get a call from Clarabelle saying Nye's got you here. He doesn't know how you got here. Do you remember anything?" he said, rushing over to her.

"I don't remember how I got here" Valkyrie said, reminding herself that she wasn't exactly lying. She was asleep when she was bought here but it didn't take a genius to figure out Sanguine had escaped and taken her with him.

"Are you ok? You looked pretty beaten up in those videos but I didn't realise it was _that_ bad. You were still smiling!"

"It wasn't so bad. I barely felt that last one at all"

Just then Nye came in and poked her arm.

"Does that hurt?"

"No"

"What about that?" he poked her head.

"Not really"

"And this?" Nye poked her stomach where the cut ran across.

"OW!"

"I'll take that as a yes" Nye said scribbling down something on an old clipboard. Valkyrie looked around the medical bay and thought about Sanguine. How weird that he'd kissed her. Maybe she'd imagined it in her half-dead state but it felt so real. Skulduggery watched her as she thought.

"You're thinking"

"I am. It's actually quite a good thing to do"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Lots of clever little things"

"Give me an example"

"I'm just trying to remember how I got here"

Skulduggery nodded and Nye came back in.

"You're healing remarkably quickly. You should be ready to go as soon as you feel strong enough. Nye detached the machines from Valkyrie and she sat up, swinging her legs out of bed and stumbling towards the door.

"You coming?" she asked Skulduggery who was still lost in thought.

"I suppose I'd better keep an eye on you" he said, standing up and following after her. Ravel saw them and hugged Valkyrie.

"You're alive!"

"I think so" Valkyrie said and hugged him back.

"We've actually got a new case for you guys. Do you think you're ready to go back to work?" Ravel asked Valkyrie. She nodded so Ravel continued, leading the way to his office, "It's nothing major. A sensitive says she's seen what Darquess looks like but she won't tell us. She says we'll think she's crazy. We need you to go question her and find out as much as possible so we can track Darquess down. The sensitive's name is Freya Madame" Ravel flicked through some papers on his desk and gave them a file with a picture of a young woman on it. She had white skin, white hair and white eyes and Valkyrie thought she resembled a ghost.

"We're on it" Skulduggery said, snatching the file from Valkyrie and waving goodbye.

"Bye Ravel" Valkyrie said and Ravel waved, cheerfully. Once they were in the Bentley, Skulduggery drove down a small country track. Valkyrie was tossed around in the car as they went over bump after bump.

"Are we nearly there?" Valkyrie asked as they swerved round a corner and went over a particularly big bump. Skulduggery smacked his head on the Bentley roof and he hissed with pain.

"It's that house at the end of this damn road" he said and Valkyrie saw a small building on the horizon at the end of the winding track. They pulled up outside the bungalow and knocked on the door. Freya opened it and her eyes widened when she saw Valkyrie.

"We're here to ask you some questions about recent visions" Skulduggery said, stepping inside.

"I d-don't know anything" Freya stammered. She was so white she appeared to give off a pearly glow and the white dress she was wearing added to the affect. Her pale eyes never left Valkyrie as they moved to the living room.

"We think you do. We think you saw what Darquess looks like and all we want is answers"

"No!" Freya ran to an armchair and ducked behind it. Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at Skulduggery and he nodded back at her. Valkyrie activated China's power and Freya came staggering out from behind the chair and kneeled at Valkyrie's feet. Her eyes were wide and she grasped Valkyries leg with bony hands.

"You! I saw you as Darquess, ruling the shadows. So much power. I love you, I want to help you rule, help you destroy. Please let me be your humble servant" she grovelled and Valkyrie dropped the power with disgust. Freya stood up and darted away with a look of horror on her face.

"Please don't kill me" she whimpered.

Valkyrie left the room and called back to Skulduggery "We've got the info now let's go home"

Skulduggery gave an awkward wave to Freya who was still cowering in the corner and started to drive the Bentley along the road back.

"What are we going to do about Freya?" Valkyrie asked.

"Nothing. The Sanctuary will call her crazy if she mentions you"

Valkyrie nodded but she was worried. Freya had to be dealt with. Valkyrie remembered how easily she had gotten Freya to reveal her darkest secrets and had no doubt Nye could find a way to get the truth from her. Skulduggery dropped her at Gordon's and Valkyrie went into her bedroom, locking the door behind her. She pulled out her mobile and dialled the number that Sanguine had given her back when they were in the Bentley.

"Hitman Deluxe at your service" a tired voice drawled down the line.

"I need you to do a job. I'll meet you at Aranmore Farm at 8pm to discuss details" Valkyrie didn't even wait for Sanguine to reply before she hung up and looked at the clock. 6pm already. Valkyrie got changed into her normal clothes from the spare clothes she kept at the medical bay. She hated the hospital gowns and didn't want to walk around looking like she was wearing a bed sheet so she had a spare change of clothes at Nye's just in case her own clothes were torn to shreds. Valkyrie had a shower to wash the blood that had dripped into her hair a day ago down the drain. She got dressed into her work clothes and brushed her hair before grabbing a bite to eat and heading out to Aranmore farm. It was a long way away but Valkyrie could easily steal a mortal's bike when they weren't looking. She pinched a strong looking bike and got to Aranmore farm on time. She shook her windswept hair so it looked almost normal and saw Sanguine rise up through the earth. He froze when he saw Valkyrie.

"How much do you usually get paid for this kind of job?" she asked him.

"Er... depends on the person"

"You remember about Darquess? A sensitive called Freya Madame figured it was me and I need her gone. Permanently"

"You got it. Have you got an address?"

"Yes" Valkyrie handed him a slip of paper with her details on.

"That lowers the cost a bit. We're lookin' at about 10 000 at the mo"

"That's fine" Valkyrie pulled £5000 out of her pocket "You get the rest when you've done the job"

Sanguine nodded and got ready to sink through the ground. As he was lowering he heard Valkyrie's voice ring out above him.

"One last thing- don't leave the body behind" and with that she was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning Skulduggery picked her up earlier than usual.

"That Freya woman was murdered yesterday. We need to go check it out"

Valkyrie pretended to be surprised and nodded. They climbed in to the Bentley and started down that road again.

"Any idea who did it?"

"Not a clue. Whoever it was they took the body and didn't leave any evidence behind"

Valkyrie had to stop herself from smiling. Sanguine really was efficient. She made a mental note to pay Sanguine the rest of the money later and pretended to be upset as she checked around for any evidence and was pleased to find their wasn't even any sign of a struggle. The cracks that Sanguine left from tunnelling around where hidden by a rug on the floor.

"I don't think we're going to find anything Skul"

"Who would want to kill Freya? She didn't exactly seem dangerous"

"We don't know enough about her to make a list of suspects. Maybe we should talk to some of Freya's friends or family and find out if she had any enemies"

"Good idea. Her next door neighbour would be a good place to start"

Valkyrie nodded and knocked on the door of the house to Freya's left. Skulduggery took the right. The door opened and in front of Valkyrie was an old woman. Her face wasn't particularly wrinkled but she was small and hunched over with short, white hair.

"Hello there sweetie. Are you lost?"

"Hello there. I'm a detective in training and we need to ask some questions about the disappearance of Freya Madame"

"Detective in training? Who's your superior?"

"Have you ever heard of Skulduggery Pleasant?"

"Who hasn't heard of Skulduggery Pleasant?"

"I'm his partner. He's talking to the people on the other side of Freya's house as we speak"

"Oh you're Valkyrie Cain! Come in, come in." Valkyrie stepped in and smiled at the woman. She often heard rumours of detectives being cold and business like and was determined to break the mould.

"I love your house" she said as the woman directed her to a comfy armchair.

"So tell me dear, what would you like to know?"

"We're just trying to find out if Freya had any friends or enemies we should know about. There aren't many files on her"

"Oh Freya was a strange woman. She was always quiet. Kept to herself. She was a fantastic artist, of course. She drew me once and I've got it hung up somewhere. I don't think she ever went out with _anyone_. She didn't even have any family that she mentioned"

"No one?"

"That's right. She locked herself inside her house and never really came out unless she needed shopping"

"Thanks Miss... Um…"

"I'm Reyna Kriss"

"Thank you for your help Miss Kriss. It really helped us out"

"It was no problem dear" and with that Miss Kriss heaved herself from the chair she'd been sat in and opened the door for Valkyrie.

"Take care" she said sweetly and closed the door. On the other side of the house Skulduggery was getting thrown through the door by a huge woman with flaming hair scraped off her forehead.

"I already told ya I don't know nuffin'" she said with a surprisingly low voice and slammed the door shut. Valkyrie laughed as Skulduggery brushed himself off and staggered over to her. Valkyrie told Skulduggery about the woman ,and Skulduggery glared at the door he'd been thrown through.

"You get all the nice people" he huffed and went over to the Bentley.

"Don't be grouchy. I'm going out again tonight by the way. I'm going to check up on Stephanie at the orphanage" (the reflection had been reset with help from China's symbols and sent to an orphanage in the place of Valkyrie)

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'll be ok. I just want to say hi and make sure she's not giving me a bad record!" Valkyrie laughed as she got out of the Bentley and climbed Gordon's front steps. She waved to Skulduggery who drove to Cemetery Road for the night. As soon as he was out of sight Valkyrie whipped out her mobile and rang Sanguine, stepping inside and shutting the door behind her. She jumped as a ringtone sounded out from her kitchen. Someone cursed and Sanguine answered his phone.

"Don't freak, but I'm in your house"

Valkyrie hung up and swaggered into the kitchen where Sanguine was stood holding his phone. She raised an eyebrow.

"I was begginnin' to think you weren't gonna pay me lil' darlin'"

"I'm Valkyrie Cain, partner to Skulduggery Pleasant, past mortal, present sorcerer and future destroyer of the world but I'm not a cheater" Valkyrie said as she pulled out the rest of Sanguine's money. He took it eagerly and counted it out, holding each note to the light.

"I knew I shouldn't have doubted ya"

"You did a good job, by the way. Skulduggery investigated the scene and we didn't find a thing"

"What can I say? I'm talented"

"Sure you are" Valkyrie rolled her eyes "If you're going to leave go through the door. I like my kitchen floor without lots of tiny cracks in it"

"Will do. Um… about what happened while we were kidnapped…"

"Oh." Valkyrie blushed "Yeah. Thanks for patching me up and everything. I'll figure out how to pay you back for that one day"

"Don't worry about it. I'll find a way for you to pay me" he grinned and locked lips with him again. Valkyrie was stunned and didn't move for a few seconds before she kissed him back.

"Now you've confused me" she said as they broke apart "Don't I hate you?"

"Beats me"

"So is this going to be a regular thing now?"

"If you want. I aint got nothin' better to do in my spare time"

Valkyrie nodded and gave him a quick kiss before showing him the back door.

"I'll see you around" she said and shut the door behind her. Back in the kitchen, she leaned against the door and took deep breaths. What the hell had she just gotten herself in to?


	9. Chapter 9

**Howdy!**

**This chapter's pretty short so I figured I'd put in an Authors Note. Just wanna say thank you sooo muchhh to you guys who comment and a special shout out to Justrockzyxxx who comments all the time.**

**Thank you all :b**

**TheSquirrelLordess Xx**

The next day Skulduggery reported that he was going to do some research. Valkyrie grumbled but got dressed and found herself in the file room. Skulduggery was engrossed in the reading and Valkyrie found herself getting more and more bored. She drifted into daydreams and wandered through the cabinets until she came to K. She remembered Miss Kriss and flicked through files until she found Renya. There was nothing apart from two words on her folder. Valkyrie dropped the file and scrambled away and 'BEWARE CAIN' stood out at her from the dusty paper. She snatched it back and thrust it in front of Skulduggery's face. He suddenly sat up straight and turned his head to face her.

"This just got a whole lot more interesting"

Valkyrie traced the letters with her finger and wondered what they meant. Did she need to beware? Or did people need to beware of her? She knew the last on was true at least but did Reyna know that? Skulduggery was studying the letters like there was some sort of hidden code.

"What do we do with it?"

Skulduggery lifted his gaze to Valkyrie who stared right back at him.

"I'm not entirely sure. Maybe we should show Ravel. What do you think?"

"That depends what the message means"

Skulduggery tilted his head.

"What it means? It means you have to beware, unless you're seeing something I'm not"

"Call me paranoid, but 'Beware Cain' could mean beware _of_ me"

"Paranoid"

"Oh shut up"

Valkyrie snatched back the folder and ran her fingers over the paper. She realised there was something underneath it and pulled out another piece of paper with a drawing on. It was of a very familiar dark haired girl. The background behind her was in black and white and there was the unmistakable silhouette of Skulduggery in the distance. Valkyrie looked at herself and it took her a moment to realise she was standing on a patch of ground with dozens of tiny cracks in it like the kind Sanguine made. Skulduggery watched Valkyrie as she looked at the paper and her face hardened. Her mouth twisted from a playful smirk to a straight line and she walked straight for the door. Skulduggery followed after her.

"Are you going to tell me what's on the paper?"

"She knows, Skulduggery. Freya told her"

"Can I see it?"

Valkyrie threw the papers behind her and Skulduggery used air to round them up and catch them.

"Oh" he said as he studied the drawing but Valkyrie hadn't stopped and was already at the door. Looks like Sanguine was going to have another job. She teleported to Gordon's before Skulduggery could catch up and whipped out her phone.

"Hitman Deluxe a-"

"I've got another job. Same neighbourhood, same price. I'll meet you at the same place, same time"

Valkyrie hung up as the Bentley pulled up outside.

"It's not as bad as it looks" Skulduggery said neatly climbing through the open window.

"It's still pretty bad. Do you think it was only Freya and Reyna who knew?"

"I think so. Freya didn't seem like the type to trust that ogre on the other side"

"True. I'm out again tonight. I got to the orphanage but it was too late to find Stephanie so I'm going to try again tonight"

"Ok then. You seem very intent on finding her"

"She's got my face and my history. I need to check up on what sort of future I would've had too"

Skulduggery nodded and backed out slowly. He drove away and Valkyrie went to get ready. At eight o'clock she was giving the details to Sanguine who listened intently.

"Got it lil' darlin'. I'll see ya around" he winked and sank into the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

**More Valguine-ness here. I think I'll get some violence in soon. Too much mush and fluff :)**

**After all, what's a good story without punching?**

**TheSquirrelLordess**

The next day Skulduggery and Valkyrie had their hands full investigating the murder of Reyna Kriss and searching the neighbourhood for anyone else who Freya might have revealed her visions to. Valkyrie smiled as she inspected the room. There wasn't even a trace of blood. Skulduggery searched for hours but it was like Reyna had just got up and left.

"Are you sure they were murders? They could've ran away"

"They had no reason to run away from their homes. Both of them seemed perfectly normal when we investigated them. If they'd run away they would've at least taken a few of their most treasured possessions but nothing's moved"

Valkyrie ran her hand along the smooth surface of the polished table as she digested this information. She remembered Sanguine and frowned as she remembered Darquess. Was this her first step to becoming a mass murderer herself? She turned and signalled to Skulduggery that she was ready to leave soon. He went to do some final investigating nand Valkyries phone rang. She stepped outside and answered it quickly.

"Hello?"

"Howdy. Listen up, as we're what you might call an item I figured I might as well take you out for something to eat"

"Are you asking me on a date?"

"I suppose so. Pick you up at eight?"

"Sure. See you then"

"Oh and also, as I'm a criminal the place we're gonna be goin' to is a little shabby, so don't wear your best frock or anythin'"

"I don't _have_ any dresses"

"Thought not. See ya soon"

Sanguine hung up and Valkyrie noticed Skulduggery standing next to her.

"Um… hi?"

"Why does you not having _dresses_ have to do with anything?"

"It doesn't matter. Did you find anything?" Valkyrie asked hoping to distract him. It worked.

"Not a thing. Whoever this is, they're good and what they do"

_You got that right_, Valkyrie thought.

"Ok then. I found Stephanie by the way, but I didn't get to talk to her. I've come so close it would be stupid to give up now so I'm off again tonight. And I need to stop by Ghastly's soon too"

"I'll give you the afternoon off then" Skulduggery said and looked around the streets behind him.

"Thanks Skul"

Skulduggery said something afterwards but Valkyrie didn't hear it as she teleported to the Sanctuary.

"If it isn't my favourite little underling!" Ghastly said as she wandered into his office.

"Doesn't that title go to Skulduggery?"

"He's not little"

"I'm not little either"

"You are compared to the rest of us"

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and sat down on the sofa in Ghastly's office.

"So how can I help?"

"Well I'm going out tonight and I want something nice to wear, but the place I'm going to is going to be a bit shabby so nothing too nice"

"So in other words you have a date"

"Sort of. Just don't tell Skulduggery"

"Why not?"

"He'd follow me. I know it"

Ghastly chuckled and nodded his head.

"I won't deny that. Come back in two hours and I'll have something ready"

"Thanks Ghastly"

Valkyrie left the room and after exactly two hours of wandering around and trying to dig out some hairclips Valkyrie walked back into the room where Ghastly was adding the finishing touches to her new clothes. The outfit was made up of a tight black dress that stopped above her knees with a huge, red belt and the shoes were black high-top trainers with red laces.

"It's perfect!" she squealed and ran her fingers over the fabric "How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything"

"If you don't name a price you know I'm going to pay you anyway"

Ghastly grumbled as he remembered finding money stuffed in his letterbox for a week.

"About 50 is the rate I usually charge" he mumbled

Valkyrie instinctively pulled out 50 and handed him the money. She picked up the dress and the shoes and left quickly. She put the clothes on and smiled as she remembered how Ghastly knew just what she looked good in. The outfit was amazing and she pulled her hair up into a messy bun with loose bits of hair by her face to finish it off. There was a tap on the back door and Valkyrie skipped down to answer it. Sanguine grinned when he saw her.

"You try too hard"

"I didn't try at all" Valkyrie said and linked arms with him. They sank into the ground and popped out in a dark alleyway with towering brick walls and a single door set in the stone.

"In here" Sanguine drawled and held the door open for Valkyrie. She walked in and immediately liked her surroundings. It was small, badly lit and full of criminals but Valkyrie felt warm and cosy.

"It's not much" Sanguine said and waved to a greasy haired man with a stained apron.

"I like it"

The man shuffled over and practically dragged them to an empty table. He shoved a menu in front of their faces and Valkyrie scanned it for something that didn't sound like it would give her food poisoning.

"How did you find this place anyway? I don't even know where we are!"

"The guy who owns this place looks up escaped criminals and gives 'em and invitation"

"Skulduggery's face if he saw this lot" Valkyrie sniggered and Sanguine laughed.

"Yeah. You haven't told ol' Funny Bones about us have ya?"

"Even if I _wanted_ to tell him I doubt he'd believe me"

"Good girl. You can call me Ray by the way. Billy sounds so stupid and Sanguine's what my enemies call me"

The man came back and glared at them as they ordered. Valkyrie looked around again and noticed how everyone seemed on edge apart from her. As the night progressed and the drinks were ordered they loosened up slightly and the atmosphere became warmer and louder.

"So ya told me ya might show me the new powers once we were out of that hellhole" Sanguine said. Valkyrie smiled at him and happily teleported around the room.

"So it's all true huh?"

"It sure is. And this is China's power" Valkyrie happily demonstrated and Sanguine practically fell of his chair. She stopped and giggled as he turned red and got back on his chair.

"That's pretty impressive"

"Yeah"

One of the men on the next table caught a tiny bit of the effect of Valkyrie's powers and came over. He leaned over to her and whispered something in her ear. Valkyrie gave him a sickly sweet simple back and beckoned him outside. Sanguine didn't even bother going after her. Valkyrie wasn't that nice unless she was about to kick you into next year. Sure enough, she swaggered back without even a chipped fingernail and the man from before staggered rather than swaggered clutching his hand and covered in cuts and mud.

"Poor guy"

"Indeed" Valkyrie said, a habit that she had picked up from Skulduggery.

"We'd better start headin' back soon"

"Sure" Valkyrie pulled out some notes and put them on the table before standing up to leave.

"I'm payin'" Sanguine said and left his own money on the table. He shoved Valkyrie's notes back to her and dragged her away before she could protest.

"You must be the most gentlemanly murderer I've ever met"

"Sure I am. I enjoy a fair bit o' killin' but I'm a nice guy on the inside"

Valkyrie laughed and Sanguine put his arm around her as they stepped out into the alleyway. She kissed him as they sank through the earth and rose up again at Gordon's.

"For the job" Valkyrie said and gave him the 10000 she'd promised. She gave him a wave and disappeared through the door. She saw him grin at the door she'd gone through as he tunnelled away. A figure in the shadows gasped at what she saw and clapped her hands over her mouth.

"This should be interesting" Tanith sighed and ran back to her apartment.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thtanks soooo much for the reviews so far guys. Just been baking cupcakes and I ended up eating half a box of icing sugar (Oops :s) so I figured I'd have a lazy hour or so while I wrote some more of this story. **

**Thanks again people.**

**The SquirrelLordess Xx**

**P.S The fighting will come up in the chapter after next ;)**

The next morning Valkyrie almost had a heart attack when she saw Tanith perched on the end of her bed.

"TANITH!" Valkyrie said and bolted up.

"Val! Good morning!"

"Why the hell are you in my bedroom?!"

"I heard a certain someone had a date and came to interrogate" Tanith beamed. Valkyrie saw straight through the act and her smile dropped.

"Tanith what's wrong?"

Tanith sighed. She'd better just come out and admit she'd seen them.

"I saw who your date was" she said. Her face was unreadable and Valkyrie felt a little nervous.

"Oh. Um… you haven't told anyone have you?"

"I haven't yet"

"Yet?"

"Valkyrie you idiot he's a physcotic murderer. He'll just use you as a hostage or something. You can't trust him! What were you _thinking_?"

"You weren't there Tanith! When I got kidnapped ages ago with all those videos and stuff, Ray was captured too. He saved my _life_. He patched me up when I had all those cuts and bruises and he's the one who delivered me to Nye. He even took me out on a _date_"

Skulduggery came to pick up Valkyrie and was just about to knock on the door he reached out and put his hand on the door but then…

"Valkyrie what are you _doing_? What do you think Skulduggery will say?"

Skulduggery froze at the sound of his name.

"He won't say anything because you're not going to tell him"

"Who's going to stop me? It's for your own good"

"Tanith Low if you don't keep your mouth shut I'll _make_ you keep it shut" Valkyrie hissed and felt her anger rise up. Her hands curled into fists and she had to fight to keep Darquess at bay. Tanith crawled back a bit.

"C-calm down Val. I won't tell for now but if this carries on I won't have a choice"

"Fine" Valkyrie said, back to normal. She scowled at Tanith and left the room to get some breakfast. She froze when she saw Skulduggery.

"Skulduggery! How long have you been there?" she squeaked in a higher voice than usual.

"I just got here"

Valkyrie practically deflated she was so relieved.

"Ok then. I'll be ready for work in a few minutes"

"Actually that's why I'm here. There aren't any cases apart from Reyna and Freya and there's no point in both of us wandering around looking for clues. By the look on Tanith's face you girls need to hug and make up or whatever you do anyway"

"I really want to go to work today" Valkyrie whined. Skulduggery gave her his 'suspicious' look and she shrugged "If I go with you I won't be as bored as if I stay here. Besides, Tanith'll just yell at me all day"

"Why's she mad at you anyway?"

"Don't worry about it. She's just in a mood" Valkyrie said and Tanith watched her every move, slightly fuming in the corner.

"Valkyrie's-got-a-boyfriend" Tanith said in one breath and bolted for the door. Valkyrie teleported in front of her and grabbed her. They teleported to the pier where Valkyrie happily threw her off the edge (not anywhere near the rocks- she didn't actually want to hurt Tanith) and watched happily as she flailed around in the water. She teleported back to Gordon's where Skulduggery had his arms folded.

"You know I don't mind if you have a boyfriend"

"I know"

_It's who my boyfriend is that's the problem_, Valkyrie thought.

"It's who her boyfriend _is_ that's the problem" a voice echoed from behind her and Valkyrie wondered if she'd said that thought out loud. China Sorrows gave an evil smile.

"I'm a girl and I know how to read a girl's emotions. She didn't want to tell you she had a boyfriend because you'd want to know who it is"

Valkyrie felt like screaming. This was all getting completely out of hand. As a last resort, she pulled out her phone and texted Sanguine.

-Ray it's Val. I know this sounds crazy but I need u to kidnap me from Gordon's living room-

_b right there x_

Suddenly there was a rumble and before Skulduggery could snatch her away, Valkyrie was grabbed by Sanguine who dragged her under. She pretended to be horrified until the earth had closed up behind her and she sighed with relief.

"They were interrogating me about my new boyfriend. Tanith saw us last night"

"Darn it. Do they know it's me?"

"No. Thanks for rescuing me by the way"

"No problem. Where do you want me to drop you off?"

"I don't care. I need to be away for a few hours to make it believable"

"You can stay at my apartment for a bit while I go meet a new client"

"Thanks." Sanguine changed course and they came up again in a modernly furnished apartment.

"Nice place"

"Thanks lil' darlin'. I'll be back soon" Valkyrie nodded as Sanguine kissed her cheek and left. She took this opportunity to wander around and look through Sanguine's stuff. She grinned as she went through his bedroom and found a collection of razors. None of them were like his favourite, scarring one but they were quite impressive. She picked up a diary and flicked through. It had all the names and dates of killings and kidnappings. She found the two pages about Reyna and Freya and nodded at the information. Sanguine had recorded that he'd kidnapped them while they were sleeping, killed them relatively painlessly then put the bodies in the 'usual place'. Valkyrie had no clue what that meant.

There was a rumble then a blonde wearing sunglasses shot up and laughed.

"Hi there Ray. Can I ask who that was and who they're killing?"

"Ordinarily no, but as they were trying to kill you I'll give you that last detail"

Valkyrie turned to face him and his smile dropped.

"You don't really think I'd go and kill you now, do ya?"

Valkyrie felt relieved and hugged him.

"Maybe. But that's why I like you"

"You're a strange girl, ya know that?"

"I know"

Valkyrie let Sanguine take her hand and show her around the apartment.

"As you can see I don't have many mirrors around. I guess it's subconsciously my lack eyes botherin' me again"

"I think you do find without them"

"Tah. Now this here's the kitchen. I don't eat much so there's nothin' special in the cupboards or the fridge, but it keeps me goin'. Over there's one of the back doors. In case I need a quick getaway y'know?"

The tour continued until they were back at the bedroom.

"It's been a while. Y'want me to drop you off?"

"If you drop me off by the pier I'll walk back. I need to go mess up my hair and stuff quickly"

"Why?"

"They're not going to believe I escaped without a scratch, are they? Can I borrow one of those non-scarring razors?"

"If ya really want. I'm sure there's another way to-" Sanguine said but Valkyrie was already using one of the razors to give herself tiny cuts along her body. She hissed in pain at one of two of them but she kept going.

"Stop right there" Sanguine said and grabbed the razor "That's good enough"

"It's not believable…"

"Even I believe ya darlin'"

"I think you just want me to stop hurting myself"

"That too. Now finish up and we'll go"

Valkyrie nodded and messed up her hair. She tore the bottom of her trousers in a few places then gave Sanguine a thumbs up. He grabbed her waist and they were and the pier before she knew it.

"See you later" she said.

"I'll pick you up at eight tomorrow" Sanguine said and winked as he disappeared again. Valkyrie walked to Gordon's and then staggered through the door.

"Valkyrie!" Skulduggery darted forward as she toppled over.

"I'm fine. That _idiot_ didn't know what hit him"

"Let's get you to Nye's"

"I'm fine. They're just scratches"

"I'm taking you anyway" Valkyrie didn't even have time to argue as Skulduggery picked her up and put her in the Bentley.

"Skul I'm _fine_"

"Just in case"

There was no use arguing as Skulduggery drove to the Sanctuary. Nye confirmed what Valkyrie already knew- there was just some scratches, no real damage- before sending them off home with some purple stones to put in the bath and heal the scabs the scratches left behind.

"You see Skul? _Fine_"

"You could've been really hurt. Besides, all those cuts are not _fine_. They're not hideously bad but they're not fine"

"You worry too much"

"You were snatched from your living room, Val. Isn't there anywhere that you'll be safe?"

"Probably not. But I'm used to it"

Skulduggery drove her back to Gordon's giving her a lecture about how she could've been killed and this was all his fault until Valkyrie silenced him.

"Skul- Even if you wanted to ditch me you couldn't"

Skulduggery shook his head as Valkyrie shut the Bentley door behind her and went into Gordon's. Normally Skulduggery would drive off at this point but there was still something that hadn't been sorted.

"Valkyrie!" he called following after her. She turned around and he caught up with her before she'd even got past the front door.

"What was that about your boyfriend? Before you got kidnapped?"

"Boyfriend? What are you on about?" Valkyrie said and slammed the door shut. Skulduggery was stunned for a moment then pounded on the door.

"You know fine well I'll break this door down!"

The door opened a fraction and Valkyrie opened her eyes to make them seem innocent.

"Yes Skulduggery?"

"Don't 'Yes Skulduggery?' me. China and Tanith seem to think you have a boyfriend I wouldn't approve of"

"You sound like a dad"

Skulduggery tried not to flinch when he noticed her say 'a dad' rather than 'my dad'.

"That's the weird thing. I don't _care_ who your boyfriend is as long as he isn't a criminal or a vampire or something"

When Valkyrie didn't answer, Skulduggery pounded on the door again.

"Val! Don't make me ask Tanith!"

"Go ask Tanith! She won't tell you."

"Valkyrie Cain open this door right NOW!"

Reluctantly, the door opened enough for a skeleton to dart through and she slammed it shut behind her.

"Skulduggery it's none of your business" Valkyrie didn't want to be rude but he really was asking for it.

"Valkyrie I don't understand why you don't just tell me"

"You'd hate me and probably try to kill him"

"No I wouldn't. I'm sure we'd get along fine"

Valkyrie burst out laughing and shook her head.

"No way do you guys get along fine"

"Get _along_. That suggests I know him already" Skulduggery mused and Valkyrie grabbed his arm. They teleported to Skulduggery's house on Cemetery Road and she left him there.

"I thought I'd drop you home" she said and with a pop she teleported away.


	12. Chapter 12

**I don't think that icing sugar was very good for me *greenface***

**Keep reviewin'!**

**TheSquirrelLordess Xx**

Back at Gordon's Valkyrie rang Tanith.

"Val! Apparently you'd been kidnapped!"

"I was. Get over here"

"I'll be right there"

There was a soft beeping sound as Tanith hung up and Valkyrie paced the floor until the roar of a motorbike stopped her in her tracks.

"Val! Who kidnapped you this time?"

"Sanguine" That made Tanith stop and stare at her.

"He kidnapped you?"

"Because I asked him to"

Tanith's smile turned to grimace and she paced the floor where Valkyrie had been walking moments before.

"He's going to stab you in the back, I just know it"

"You know he's been paid to kill me. He won't do it"

"He's building your trust"

"He's building my trust but not because he wants to kill me"

"I'll believe it when I see it"

Valkyrie whipped out her mobile. Sanguine answered on the first ring.

"Hey there Ray. How'd you feel about meeting up with your ex?"

"Tanith?"

"That's the one!"

"No"

"Please?"

"No way. She ditched me! I don't want to see her _ever_ again"

"I'll pay you"

There was silence as Sanguine thought for a moment.

"Visit the jail with me to see my pa and I'll do it"

"Go see Scarab? Why?"

"I wanna see his face when I kiss ya"

"Deal. See you in a mo"

"Right back at ya babe"

Valkyrie sat and waited until Sanguine popped up, dusting himself off.

"Howdy"

"Sanguine" Tanith growled and gave his a harsh glare.

"Hey Ray!"

"'Sup Val?" Sanguine grinned and picked her up. He gave her a quick kiss and she blushed. Tanith clenched her teeth.

"I thought I'd seen the last of you a while back" Sanguine said, turning to Tanith.

"Same here"

"I'll bet it was a bit of a shocker when you figured about us, huh?" Sanguine said and wrapped his arm around Valkyrie's waist.

"I know you're just trying to hurt her" Tanith hissed.

Sanguine looked genuinely surprised.

"I'm a murderer sure, but I've got morals. If I was goin' to kill the lil' lady I'd take her. I don't sink _that_ low, figuratively speakin' of course."

"You should run before Skulduggery finds out"

"I should but I aint goin' to"

"Why not?"

"Because I love my Valkyrie here" Sanguine said and pulled her closer.

"That's disgusting"

"I know you think so, but Valkyrie doesn't and I sure don't"

"What do you see in this creep?" Tanith asked Valkyrie.

"Well he's sweet and strong and really hot and he likes me back" Sanguine chuckled as she said that.

"Really hot? He had no eyes!"

"Eyes aren't everything"

"I still want you to tell Skulduggery"

"He'd kill Ray for sure"

"For sure? You're even going to start speaking like him!"

"What's wrong with speakin' like me?"

"I actually like the accent" Valkyrie said and poked her tongue out at Tanith who looked close to tears.

"Valkyrie, this is going to end in disaster"

"I know. Everything I do ends in disaster, but I can't just do nothing"

Tanith gave an exasperated sigh as she realised Valkyrie wasn't giving in. She turned away and let a single tear hit the floor.

"I'll take good care of her"

Tanith heard that dreaded voice ring out cockily behind her as she hopped through the window and ran all the way to her apartment. She burst into her own room and pulled things off the shelves, smashing them around. She cried and pounded the walls with her fists, screaming. How could she? Her sister and that… that _freak_ who'd made her murder all those innocent people. She pictured the image off them hugging and changed her gravity so she could jump on the walls. She turned round with tears pouring down her face and a very surprised Ghastly stood there. She wished with all her heart she could tell him what was really bothering her.

"T- Tanith what's wrong? Skulduggery said you had a fight with Valkyrie but-"

"It d-doesn't matter. Just a fight"

"Just a fight? You're jumping on the walls!"

"It's a girl thing" was Tanith's only excuse. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I just- I just feel like she's getting so distant? You know?"

"Yeah. Skulduggery came and said exactly the same thing yesterday. He feels like she's drifting away. He thinks it's him"

"Of course it's not him. Val adores Skulduggery"

"He thinks he's overworking her. I told him it's got nothing to do with him and it's probably just a phase but he gave her the day off anyway"

"I know. She spent most of the morning arguing with me"

"Do you want me to talk to her?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think she wants to talk to anyone right now"

"Oh. Ok then" Ghastly but his arm around Tanith and they sat there for a while, gazing out of the window. Ghastly's phone rand and he picked up.

"Ghastly? Are you with Tanith? Is she ok?"

"No! What the hell did you say? She's in pieces!"

"I'm sorry. She said she wanted to see it with her own eyes!"

"See what?"

"Put me on to Tanith. She left her mobile at my house"

Ghastly handed the phone to Tanith who frowned at the sound of Valkyrie's voice.

"Tanith calm down. I can look after myself!"

"But _him_ Val. Why _him_?"

"Tanith don't make me say it"

"Say what?"

"Say I love him"

"Don't say that! Stop! Stop! Stop! You _don't_. You hear me Valkyrie?"

"I'm not changing my mind"

"That's why I'm worried. You have to understand what he did to me. Don't you hate him for that?"

"I hate him for that but I can't help liking him too. Do you think I chose this? Do you think I thought 'Hey. I know! Let's fall in love with Sanguine!'?"

"Valkyrie, please" Tanith's voice was tired and weak.

"You could even help me with all this. We can solve this problem _together_"

"You _are_ the problem"

"You're just going to have to get over that little fact" Valkyrie said and frowned as she remembered Tanith saying something similar when the remnant was in her. Ghastly snatched the phone back from Tanith who was in tears again.

"Valkyrie what's this about? You're really upsetting her!"

"It's a girl thing" Valkyrie said and hung up.

_It's a girl thing?_ Ghastly was fed up of these women. He called Skulduggery for a man to man talk while Tanith sniffed from beside him.

"Hello there, magic genie speaking. I will grant you one wish" Skulduggery was obviously in a good mood and Ghastly couldn't help feeling a bit worried that he was making jokes, but he played along anyway.

"I'd like two million pounds"

"Ghastly, you know I can't give you that"

"Alright then, I want to know the secret of understanding women"

There was silence for a few moments.

"How much money did you want again?"

Ghastly laughed.

"This fight between Tanith and Valkyrie is crazy. Tanith's in tears and they keep yelling at each other. Whenever I ask them what's going on they tell me it's a girl thing and I can't get any more information out of them"

"I'm actually arriving at Valkyrie's now. She's really down in the dumps too so I'm off to cheer her up"

"See if you can figure out what all this is about"

"See you soon my friend"

"I'll call you later. Oh- also why were you so happy?"

"Fletcher came crawling back swearing revenge on Valkyrie so I punched him"

"That explains it"

Ghastly hung up and turned to Tanith who had fallen asleep. He tucked her under the covers and kissed her forehead before shuffling out of her apartment. Tanith smiled in her sleep.

Valkyrie hugged Skulduggery as he came in.

"Now what's this all about? Ghastly says Tanith's really upset"

"We had a fight. She's not being supportive of my decisions and she doesn't trust me to look after myself!" Valkyrie sounded more angry than sad.

"What decisions would this be?"

"Who I date mostly" Valkyrie mumbled but Skulduggery caught what she was saying.

"Your boyfriend? Why would Tanith disagree?"

"Never mind. I invited you over so I didn't have to think about this anymore, so let's watch a movie or something."

"Another movie?"

"Can you think of anything better to do?"

Skulduggery thought.

"Have you ever been ice-skating?"

"I can barely stand up straight without being on ice"

"It's a lot more fun with magic"

"Let's go then" Valkyrie said and wasted no time in hurrying outside. At the ice rink (which was empty as it was the middle of summer and still quite early in the morning) Skulduggery had his façade on (just in case someone walked in) and took Valkyrie's hand. He dragged her around the ice and she glided after him, laughing. As they picked up speed, Skulduggery spun Valkyrie around and she squealed as she slid round in a circle. She let go of Skulduggery's hand and glided towards the middle of the ice-rink where she fell over and sat on the ice. Skulduggery laughed and picked her up.

"So what's this about using magic?"

Skulduggery smiled and used air to propel Valkyrie away from him and around the ice-rink at full speed. She waved her arms around and yelled at first but after a few minutes she was laughing and managed to grab Skulduggery so he was pulled with her. He stumbled but managed to keep uprights as they spun faster and faster. Suddenly, the spinning stopped and Valkyrie wobbled a bit before Skulduggery caught her.

"I'm a bit dizzy" she admitted.

"Better than a movie?"

"You bet! We should do this more often"

"Agreed. So then, do you want to head back soon?"

"I suppose we should" Valkyrie grumbled and Skulduggery pulled her to the edge where she took off her ice skates and put on her boots. They walked (or in Valkyrie's case- stumbled a bit) to the Bentley and drove to Gordons.


End file.
